


Batter Up!

by RebelByrdie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 02:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4503765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelByrdie/pseuds/RebelByrdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The main event of Miner's Day is always the softball game.  This year Snow has convinced Emma to play.  She thinks it will be all fun and games until she learns her pitching rival is none other then Regina Mills.  Softball, over-enthusiastic Snow, Scantily Clad Ruby, Shady Blue and SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

Part I

The insanity started exactly seven days before Miner's Day. Emma had been curled up in her bed: warm, cozy and sleeping soundly when her lunatic of a mother barged into her room and turned on the lights at five am on a Saturday."

"Emma up now!"

She jerked awake and immediately threw her hands over her stinging eyes.

"Who's dead?"

Someone had better be dead for her to be awake at such an ungodly hour.

"No one is dead." Emma rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and could have sworn Snow added "yet."

The brunette smiled at her so widely that Emma was just a little bit scared. "We are at war and you have been drafted. Now get up, we're going for a run."

The hell she was getting up and running at five am. She didn't run before sunrise unless there was an ogre chasing her. Hell she didn't like to run at all unless there was a damn good reason or money involved.

"Coffee and explanation first, please, Snow."

It took two cups of coffee, twenty minutes and a further explanation from both David and Henry before Emma understood. Snow White was insane, completely and totally deranged and she was trying to drag her long-lost daughter with her into Crazy Town.

"Lemme get this straight. You want the three of us." She waggled her thumb between her and her two parents, to go on a run through town at the crack of dawn to get ready for a softball game?

Snow threw up her hands, "Not just any game. The game. It's Red versus Blue, Emma."

Emma looked at Henry and he only shook his head. "Leave me out of this one." He turned to go back to bed, his hands thrown up in mock-surrender "I am not taking sides. I'm neutral like water or the Swiss." Man, her Kid was smart. How had he managed to get out of this one?

"Henry!"

Snow actually sounded upset by that remark. "We're your family. You are a Blue by birth!"

Emma pushed her hands through her sleep tousled hair, "It's a game, Snow, not the Civil War."

David chuckled, "Trust me, its closer to the Civil War."

Then they had dragged her out to run up and down town until she was panting so hard she thought she might throw up and all she could think about was finding a convenient portal to push her mother into.

By the time Tuesday had rolled around she was already sick and tired of their new training regimen.

"Snow." She bent over double and grasped her knees, "I get it, you like running. Seriously, though, can't we pop into Granny's and get something to eat."

"Absolutely not!"

She hadn't had pancakes all week and she was tired and cranky and she just wanted to sit down. "But it's carb-loading. It's good for sports-stuff. That dumb swimmer guy does it all the time and he's on T.V. so it must be true."

"It's fraternizing with the enemy."

The enemy, seriously?

"Just because some players from the other team might be there."

"No we're definitely here." Ruby set the sign with the day's special on the sidewalk and stretched.

Snow glared, actually glared, at her best friend.

"Traitor."

Emma threw her hands up in the air, "Seriously?" She was close to the end of her rope over this whole situation. It almost made her miss breaking curses and slaying dragons.

Ruby chuckled, "Snow's just pissed because Granny and I play for the Red Team and always have."

Snow crossed her arms, "That was before. We're not cursed anymore, you should come play for the right team."

Ruby snorted, "One: Mother Superior snarks at me about my clothes. Two: You already have a catcher and a third base. Not that Grumpy is nearly as good, because nobody rocks Hot Corner like me, but still."

"And Three" Granny added from the door, "We like winning."

Emma groaned at that. The last thing she needed was Snow to get even more worked up.

"This is our year."

Ruby turned to head back into the Diner, "Yeah you've been saying that for what, ten years now? Keep dreaming, Princess."

Emma looked at David to find that he was studying the ground beneath his feet, hands shoved in his hoodie pocket. Her father, Prince Charming, the man who was scared of his own wife.

"Why don't I remember this last year?"

He shrugged, "Last year the power went out and the game was cancelled. Besides, last year we were a little preoccupied."

Last year Mary Margaret had been selling candles, or at least trying to, like a mad woman.

"Is it too late to quit?"

David's eyes widened with something close to fear, "Don't you even think about it." Ah, she got the message, if he had to put up with Snow, so did she. Families stuck together even in the face of softball-induced-madness.

Ruby and Snow were preoccupied with their argument so Emma moved closer to her father and deputy.

"This is getting ridiculous."

David shrugged again, "The good news is that all the ticket sales go to the school."

"And the bad news?" As if she really wanted to know at this point.

He rubbed his hand over his short hair, "Things may get a little more heated than usual this year."

Things could actually get worse at this point?

"Regina's the captain of the Red Team."

Well that explained why Snow was so gung-ho about winni-wait a minute.

"Regina, as in Regina Mills, the mayor. That Regina?"

He nodded.

"She plays softball?"

Emma simply couldn't imagine it. Regina Skirt-and-Heels Mills playing a sweaty dirty game like softball, when Hell froze over maybe.

"You are shitting me."

Ruby had apparently taken a break from working Snow into a tizzy and laughed at their conversation.

"He shits you not. Regina is the best pitcher in town. She smokes the Boo-Hoo-Blues every year."

"Not this year!"

Snow threw an arm over her shoulder, "Emma is our pitcher and she is going to make Regina wish she'd never picked up a glove."

Aw man. She should have never mentioned that she had pitched for one glorious season during High School (the third of four schools she'd attended before dropping out) It had been an accident, really. She had been walking around the track during gym and the ball had just bounced at her feet. The gym teacher saw her hurl it back at the game and had about creamed her panties on the spot. It had been the one and only year that Emma had truly enjoyed high school. She'd played a little pick-up here and there since, but nothing serious, and definitely nothing to brag about.

"Oh really?"

There was a spark in Ruby's eyes now. "You wanna put your money where your mouth is, Princess?"

Snow stepped up, almost nose to nose, with Ruby. "Bring it on, Wolf."

"Fifty bucks says we wipe the field with your pretty blue butts."

Jesus Jack Hammering Christ, Emma could not believe what was happening.

"You're on."

Wednesday saw their first team practice and if Snow was bad, then the Blue Fairy was ten-times worse. For a nun the woman definitely had a quick temper and was a little too into softball. Wasn't rabid competitiveness a sin or something?

"I swear to all the Saints, Nova, if you hit the ball once, just once, it will be a certified miracle and I will contact the diocese immediately!"

The whisper-thin brunette blushed furiously and Grumpy ambled over to help correct her stance for a moment. Emma looked away because they were just so damn cute and sweet that if she watched the dwarf and the fairy anymore she was going to go into a diabetic coma.

Not that Snow was much better, "Emma that was another ball! Hit your strike zone!" She felt like hitting a strike zone, all right. If her adoring mother didn't stop critiquing her she was going to send the next pitch right at her mask-covered face.

After three ungodly hours of practice, they all huddled up by the pitcher's mound to talk strategy.

"Is it the same line up?" Michael the town mechanic and their short stop, asked with a grunt.

Blue shook her head, "Kathryn is taking over first base since Sidney is-"She frowned for a moment, "gone."

Emma snickered a little bit. It was kind of funny that David's ex-wife would be playing opposite of him.

"Is she any good?"

Everyone turned to David and he sighed, "She played all the way through college" Snow let out a frustrated sigh before her husband added, "on scholarship."

Blue quieted everyone down, "No other surprises, though. The Evil Queen won't change up much since she thinks she has a winning team already."

They spent the next thirty minutes talking about the Red Team. Ruby was a home-run queen, Archie could jump like nobody's business. Emma smirked at that and tried really hard not to make a cricket joke.

"Then of course, there's Paul."

Emma looked up from where she had been plucking blades of grass, "Paul who?"

Grumpy sighed, "Bunyan. He's their power-hitter. He's big and slow but he can swing a bat like nobody's business."

Regina had, apparently, put together a good team. Emma let her thoughts drift again. She still couldn't believe the brunette played. It just seemed so un-Regina-like. She hadn't even though the woman owned sneakers, let alone cleats. Still, though, it would be worth it. She was going to help her crazy team mates win just to see the look on the mayor's face.

The mayor's sweaty, dirt-smeared, perfect face. She wondered vaguely, if the ex-Queen would wear softball pants. The tight, nothing-left-to-the-imagination white sliding pants that would cling to her ass like a second skin. Or shorts, Emma let herself imagine the legs she had seen in skirts so many times in dusty white shorts. Maybe she would wear knee-high red socks too.

"Emma!"

She jumped at her name and looked around to find that everyone was staring at her.

"Yeah?"

She felt embarrassment turn her cheeks even redder then the suicides and squat thrusts had.

"I asked you how often you had pitched against lefties."

Oh, was that all?

"I do all right. Why?"

Blue rolled her eyes and sighed, "Regina bats from the left."

Wait a minute, that couldn't be right. Regina was right-handed, Emma had watched her sign enough paperwork to know that."

"But she's right handed."

"Ambidextrous, actually." Snow commented, "She shoots a bow from the left as well."

Seriously? Yet another thing to remember about Regina. Should they ever throw punches again, Emma would have to remember that she could fight south-paw.

"You know what they say about an archer who shoots from the left." Grumpy chuckled and elbowed Happy, and Dopey, their left and center fielders.

"Grumpy!"

Mother Superior looked shocked and Astrid blushed bright red. Emma had no idea what they said, but would ask Grumpy later.

They practiced twice more and Emma had been forced to break up two shouting matches between various members of the two teams several times before Saturday rolled around. She just wanted it to be over. Miner's Day couldn't arrive soon enough.


	2. Part II

Part II

Miner's Day came and Emma could not believe how much the town was buzzing about the game. Forget the Nun's candles, forget the carnival rides and games, forget the miners completely. It was all about the game, which would be the evening's closing event.

Everyone in town was wearing a shade of red or blue. Except for Henry, he had remained true to his word. He wore a white shirt with two hand painted numbers. On the right was a red 1 and on the left was a blue 99. Her and Regina's jersey numbers. Of course, she mused, Regina would be number 1. The damn woman wouldn't tolerate being anything but.

Still, though, it was good to see that the Kid was trying to rebuild his relationship with his brunette mother. Speaking of, she saw the two of them by one of the carnival games and ambled on over, corndog (the first fried food she'd had all week) in hand.

"Hey Kid. Hey Regina."

The Marco was not wearing single stitch of red, which was kind of surprising since she was team captain. She was dressed in a black skirt and blazer combo with a white shirt underneath it. Her hair was it's usual sleek and shiny perfection and her make-up was as flawless as usual. She was even wearing high heels. Who the hell wore high heels to a carnival, anyway? There was no sign of the so-called killer pitcher that she'd been warned about all week.

"Hello Miss Swan, are you enjoying Miner's Day?"

She was nice, polite, almost too polite and suspiciously nice. It had to be some kind of mind-game. Lull her into complacency and then move in for the kill.

"I guess."

She'd be way better when the day was over, her life returned to something that resembled normal and she could sleep past five again.

"I see your mother has you wearing the team colors already."

She'd put on her blue leather jacket, in favor of wearing the team jersey all day. She'd argued with Snow about it for an hour and this had been the best compromise they'd come to.

"She's a little intense about this whole game thing tonight."

Regina smiled a little bit, "Yes, she was always very competitive as a child."

Henry scoffed at that, "And you're not?"

Emma cocked an eyebrow and Henry continued, "She's had the team over in the backyard for the past three days doing drills. I think she made Paul cry. Twice."

"Henry Mills!"

Regina looked genuinely stunned and a little embarrassed, at her son's words.

Emma laughed, for the first time in a week, she threw her head back and laughed. "Kid, you just made my week."

"Well, if it isn't the talk of the town."

Marco grinned at them from his game-booth. It was the age-old knock-the-bottles down game that no one ever won.

"Hi Marco!"

Obviously happy to be out of the conversation he'd landed himself in, Henry bounced over to the game booth and stopped dead. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Is that really what I think it is?!"

Emma turned and immediately saw what had caught Henry's eye. It was a full-size wooden replica of Capitan America's shield.

"Mom, can you win it for me?"

Emma bit her lip, "Eh I dunno, Kid. You know all these games are rig-"

"Absolutely, Sweetheart." Regina cut her off with a smirk. "How many wins for the shield, Marco?"

There was a predatory gleam in Regina's eyes now.

"Five, if you think you're up to it, Madame Mayor."

There was a twinkle in Marco's eyes and Emma would swear that the carpenter winked at Henry.

"A little warm-up never hurt anybody."

Regina slapped a crisp ten-dollar bill on the table, enough for exactly five turns.

Well someone was cocky.

Emma opened her mouth to say that exactly that, but then stopped with her mouth wide open when all three bottles were knocked off their platform with a crack of leather on wood.

Holy shit snacks! She turned to look at Regina and the mayor had the biggest, shit-eatingest, fuck-you-ingest smile on her face.

Oh it was on now.

Emma dug in her pocket and pulled out a ten of her own. "Rack 'em up, Marco."

Marco positively beamed, "A friendly little competition to get ready for the big game?" That was what he said but all Emma heard was "free preview".

She could already feel eyes on them, everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch.

"The first to five wins the shield, Ladies."

And Henry's affection, the town's love, and definite bragging rights. Emma rolled her eyes. Leave it to her and Regina to turn a child's game into a showdown at the O.K. Coral.

Emma picked up her first ball and rotated it so the stitches lined up with her fingers the way she liked best. She closed her eyes and tried to remember everything her high school coach had ever told her about pitching. She stepped back, took her position and then flowed through the movements. After all her practice through the week, it was a smooth and automatic motion that ended with her snapping her arm up to release. She clipped the top bottle and it wobbled for a moment before coming to rest again, still on top of the other two bottles. She had missed. Son of a bitch!

Regina chuckled a little, but said nothing.

This time Emma watched her competition. Regina picked up her second ball and tossed it from left to right, as if trying to decide which arm to throw it with. Emma hadn't noticed before, but wondered which arm the woman favored. It would make a big difference in the game. She almost groaned out loud when the ball settled into Regina's left hand.

The Mayor stretched her arms out in front of her, took two steps back and shifted her feet into position. Then she moved so fast that if Emma had blinked she would have missed it. She didn't bother to look, the sound of wood and leather told her that Regina had scored another perfect hit. Her movements were smooth, practiced and graceful. She had pivoted, cocked her leg and snapped her arm up in a seamless flow of power and accuracy. How the hell she had executed a text-book perfect pitch in a pencil skirt and three-inch heels was beyond Emma. When the hell had the evil Queen learned to throw like that, anyway? Did they even have softball in the Enchanted Forest?

"That's two."

Oh it was on now. On like Donkey Kong.

This time Emma focused and took her stance as she would on the field. Regina obviously wasn't holding back, so she wouldn't either. She squared her shoulders, settled her feet and let it all flow.

She hit the bottles dead center and all three toppled over. Success!

"Two for the Red Pitcher and one for the Blue Pitcher."

Marco held up his hands to let the gathering crowd know the score.

Great, it was a spectacle now. Awesome.

Their third pitches both knocked down the bottles and Emma started to worry. Her first miss might actually come back to bite her in the ass.

Her break came when Regina's fourth throw was just a little bit low and to the right and one of the three bottles stayed on the platform. Regina scowled so intensely that Emma thought that the remaining bottle might jump off the platform to escape the Evil Queen's wrath.

Okay, it was go-time. If she made this it would all be tied up.

She looked at Henry, who had been momentarily forgotten by both of his overly-competitive mothers, and he was looking back and forth between the two of them with a huge grin on his face. He was enjoying this, the Kid was actually enjoying this. Then again, she was too. She was smiling and despite the heavy emphasis on winning, she was having fun. She looked at Regina and was surprised to see that the other woman was also smiling. It wasn't one of her plastic mayor smiles either. It was a huge, sparkling grin that lit up her whole face. Emma wished that Regina would smile like that more often. She was truly radiant when she smiled.

"C'mon, Emma." Henry bumped her with his shoulder, "One more and you guys will be tied!"

Regina's smile didn't fade but she did lift a brow as if to say 'I dare you'.

Emma felt a small boost of Henry-induced confidence and she took her position. She could do this. She had been an all-conference pitcher. She might have made all-state had her foster parents not kicked her back to the system when they had. She snapped off the pitch with a little extra oomph and almost threw up her arms in victory when all three bottles fell.

All tied up and one pitch left. Then Emma remembered, it had been the first to five. She grabbed her last ball and caught Regina doing the same from the corner of her eye. There were two set targets left and they both winged off their balls at them. Marco had only seconds to jump out of the way and the crowd around them shouted when both sets of bottles fell off their respective platforms simultaneously.

They had tied.

"Well!"

Marco grinned at them, "I see I will be officiating a very good game tonight." He lowered the shield down and handed it over to a practically tap-dancing Henry. "And since you tied-"He reached under the counter and brought out a wooden replica of Thor's hammer. "It is only fair that you both win a prize. For Henry, of course."

Sweat dripped down Emma's face. Yeah, for Henry. It had totally been for Henry.


	3. Part III

Part III

Regina Mills could not believe she had let herself get involved in a pre-pubescent pissing match with Emma Swan. In the middle of the carnival-grounds none-the-less. When she had seen Henry's eyes light up at the sight of the shield, she had known that she had to win it for him. It was her best game, after all. She won Henry something every year, it was their tradition. Then Emma Swan had barged in and taken things over, like always. She had turned it into a competition and egged her on. It had taken only a few pitches to see that Emma was a good, decent enough she supposed, but not as good as her. Still, though, the competition had been exhilarating. It got her blood pumping and she had found herself having fun. Fun, real fun, was something she hadn't had a lot of lately.

She had let herself watch Emma, checking out the competition of course. Her form was disciplined and tight, though she did tend to drop her left shoulder a tad. Regina had almost commented on that, but had stopped herself. She couldn't help her competition! Despite the shoulder dropping, Regina found herself admiring Emma's form. The play of lean muscles under skin-tight blue jeans and the rippling of her taught shoulders under her jacket. Emma Swan was beauty in motion.

That last second, when they had both realized that they needed to be the next to win, had been a showdown of speed and skill. It had been unexpectedly thrilling. When they both knocked their targets down, she'd had the strangest urge to hug the blonde woman. She had just wanted to leap in her arms and celebrate their victory. Foolish nonsense, a crazed moment of adrenaline and endorphins. She had grinned when Henry got two prizes instead of one and couldn't remember the last time she had seen her little boy so happy.

"Thanks, Moms!"

With little more than that he rushed through the dispersing crowd to go show Nick his newly acquired toys.

Moms. Somehow, after all that they had been though, it sounded less annoying then she thought it would. It almost sounded right.

"So-"

She refocused on the blonde, "that was fun." Emma held out a hand to shake, "See you on the field tonight?"

Very aware of all the stares, Regina took the offered hand and shook it, "Definitely."

She had a pre-game routine. It had not changed in the eight years she had been on the team. She had started Miner's Day when Henry was an infant because she had wanted him to be able to go to a carnival every year. She had never expected to enjoy it herself. She had definitely never expected for the co-ed softball game to become so interesting. She had never seen softball before and she had been as surprised as anyone else to find that she liked it. She had watched for two years and asked Graham to teach her a thing of two in the privacy of her own backyard. She'd had an aptitude for it. Which didn't surprise her, not really, she had always enjoyed throwing things. She had an awful temper had always indulged in destruction when angry. The dedication, long nights of playing catch with Henry in their backyard, the weekends of watching YouTube videos for pointers, it had become something of an obsession. Even Jill, her tutor on all things softball related, had remarked that she spent a little too much time practicing. Practice, however, made perfect and she enjoyed and expected perfection.

The Red versus Blue game had become her favorite part of Miner's Day. When she was on the field, she was not the Evil Queen or the Mayor. She was Regina, team mate and star pitcher. It was a sort of freedom that she rarely got to experience. It made every other Miner's Day related headache worth it. Plus Henry loved to cheer her on. Winning was just icing on the cake. Very sweet, decadent, wonderfully delicious icing that she licked off her finger right in front of Snow's decimated, destroyed and utterly defeated face.

She went through her routine: sports bra, tee-shirt, jersey, pants, the so called lucky socks that Henry had given her for her birthday when he was six, but her thoughts wandered. She was not facing off against Graham this year, but Emma. She pressed down the small flutter of guilt that always accompanied thoughts of Graham and tried to focus. They were housed in the 'Home' locker rooms of the school gymnasium and the home dug-out of the field. The perks of being last year's champions, Regina grinned. This was Red Team territory and had been for years. It would still be next year because she was not going to lose to Emma Swan. Their team was solid, familiar, and dare she say it fun. Ruby, a few lockers down from her, was already getting fired up. Her chanting, trash talking and uproarious laughter was, Regina suspected, her wolf coming out. Granny only laughed and shook her head at her granddaughter while Kathryn and Jill, their most experienced players, traded old war stories about games past.

She tied her black cleats with neat double knots and stretched out her legs in front of her. The white softball pants were soft and well-used. She didn't usually slide, but if the need arose she would rather not leave her legs bloody.

Ruby, on the other hand, took no such precautions. Her white shorts were barely long enough to count as outer-wear and she wore red knee-socks that were more for show then protection. She had, as she had every year, tied her red and white pinstriped jersey in a knot so that her flat stomach was visible to all. The back of her jersey, number 21, read "Red Hot Ruby" instead of simply Lucas. The other woman topped off her look with pigtails and a backwards cap. Since Ruby used her skin to distract runners and pitchers, Regina let her have her way. Arguing with her would only cause grief.

"You ready, Cap'n?" She felt a hand clap her shoulder and smiled at Granny. This was the one day a year that she was not the loathed Evil Queen. She grinned at her catcher, "Ready to kick some blue ass." Granny only chuckled in reply.

"So" Whale, Archie, Jack and Paul had joined them after everyone was in uniform, "I heard Emma is a half-decent pitcher." Whale, their second basemen, crossed his arms over his chest, "Anything we should worry about?"

Archie, their left fielder, grinned, "With Regina on the mound? Never."

Regina smirked, she liked the Cricket more and more every time she talked to him.

Jill, the school's official softball coach, gym teacher and second-to-none short stop, pulled her red cap low over her eyes, "Does Snow bat any better than Mary Margaret?"

The group chuckled, Mary Margaret's abysmal batting average was something of a joke amongst them.

Jill's brother, Jack, rubbed the scar on his forehead, "I bet Charming will favor pop-flies, he pulls his sword when he swings it, probably his bat too."

Kathryn, blonde hair neatly braided down her back, nodded, "He's also a flincher. He'll hesitate on his first two swings. He'll try to power through the third." Ah the knowledge of an ex-wife.

Regina stood up and straightened her jersey. "All right, you know what we're here to do."

"Win!" Her team answered immediately and without hesitation.

"And drinks on Her Majesty" Ruby cried triumphantly, "when we cream the Blues!"

Regina chuckled, the victory party at the Rabbit Hole was something else she enjoyed. It was her one night to unwind and be "one of the guys" and as much as she was loathe to admit it, she looked forward to that as much as any other part of the game. Paying for the ocean of liquor was the least she could do for her team. Besides Ruby ended up dancing on the bar every year with Jill and that was something that was not to be missed.

The bleachers were packed, more so this year than any other it seemed. There were slightly more blue-clad fans then red, but the red fans were louder and rowdier. The lights were on and the field was as bright as noon despite the setting sun. She, Ruby and Kathryn walked to the pitcher's mound while the rest of the team carted the various bats, gloves and water bottles that they used into the dugout. Marco, dressed in his black and white umpire's uniform, and three representatives from the Blue Team were waiting on them.

Blue stood flanked by Emma and Snow. Their blue and white uniforms clashed against her team's red.

Emma stood in her usual hipshot stance, thumbs hooked into the belt-loops of her own white softball pants. Her blonde hair was pulled through the back of her hat and she had a swipe of eye black on each cheek. She was, though the brunette would never admit it out loud, adorable.

Snow, the opposing team's catcher, already had her royal blue baseball cap turned backwards and her arms crossed. She looked focused and serious, like they were going to war instead of playing a game.

Regina stepped forward for the coin toss and, uncharacteristically, reached her hand out to shake. "Blue."

Mother Superior, Reul Ghorm, The Blue Fairy, or whatever she liked to be called, was her opposing captain and she stared at her hand as if it were on fire. Good sportsmanship, or something like that, made her finally give a very quick and limp shake. Regina felt a predatory grin crawl across her face. The pixie was afraid of her, good.

Marco grinned at them, "Okay, Ladies, I want a good clean game. Remember it's all for fun."

He flipped the coin in the air and Blue called it heads. Regina didn't mind that she was right or that she chose to bat first. She preferred taking to the field first. She liked warming up first thing. There was something about pitching that made her feel in control. She started the play with a twist of her shoulder and the play ended when the ball hit her glove again. There was no waiting in the dugout and no cooling her heels while others ran and caught and threw. She pulled her cap down, this was the one day a year that she wore such a thing, and took her stance. Happy was their lead-off batter, as he had been for the last two years. As chipper as the dwarf was, Granny could always make him flinch. The woman had creaky knees, a terrible aim and a low batting average, but she was the best smack talker Regina had ever seen.

She pitched with her left arm, her ambidextrous nature allowed for it and it was an advantage on the field. The fact that she had sustained too many injuries to her right shoulder to pitch with it was her own little secret. She kicked the dirt with her cleat and started to take her position, her mind slid into a focused and clear zone where nothing but she and the ball existed.

She whipped out the first pitch of the night and smirked when Marco called it a strike. Granny threw her the ball back and she caught it with ease. It was going to be a great game.

***

Emma pushed her cap back and sighed, Regina had struck out their first two batters without blinking an eye. The damn woman hadn't even thrown a ball. No wonder the Blue Team had lost for a decade solid, Regina was good. No, scratch that, she was great. She also looked ridiculously great while pitching too. She wasn't even sweating. Regina Mills, too perfect to sweat while pitching a perfect game. Somehow the feminine woman, who wore scarlet red lipstick during a softball game, actually made the ridiculous red and white uniform look good. Really good. Maybe it was the ass-hugging pants or the way her usually covered biceps and forearms rippled when she flexed her arms, but mostly it was that smile. The huge, toothy grin that flashed across her face every time Marco called a strike. Stupid Madame Mayor with her stupid perfect style and her stupid perfect game and her stupid beautiful smiling face.

"Go get her, Blue!"

Snow actually reached out and slapped the Blue Freaking Fairy on the ass. Emma wanted to march out of the dugout and go to left field and start some intensive therapy with Archie. Competitive Snow was just a tad too much for her to handle.

Emma bit her lip when Blue stepped out to the plate. The fairy-nun-whatever had to get on base or they were headed to the field. The first pitch was a swing and a miss. Blue stepped back from the plate and tapped the bat on her cleat. Her face was set in a hard, unforgiving glare and she re-shouldered the bat. Fairy God Mother meant business. It was a fake-out because at the last second, Blue switched her grip and bunted. As soon as the ball bounced off her bat, the woman dropped it and sprinted towards first. It was a ballsy move and the woman was fast. Not that Regina had fallen asleep on the mound, she got to the ball and fired off a throw to Kathryn in record time. Kathryn caught the ball a mere half-second after Blue's foot touched the base.

The townspeople in blue went wild and for a moment all Emma could hear was screaming.

"Hell yeah!" Since when did Snow curse like a sailor on shore leave?

Snow high-fived Astrid and threw her arms around Grumpy and all screamed in joy.

David, their clean up man, stepped up the plate and grinned. If he managed not to flinch like a little girl, he would score a good hit, maybe even a double. Emma grabbed a helmet and the bat she favored and stepped out into the on-deck circle. She watched David half-heartedly swing at the first pitch. The second pitch went high and to the left but he swung at it anyway. Emma shook her head, if he had held his stance he would have given Regina her first ball of the night. The third pitch was fast and hard and David actually hit it. He sent the ball deep into left field. Emma stopped her practice swing to watch. It was going to come down, and if Archie got under it they were done.

Though she couldn't hear it, she knew the sound of ball slapping glove. Man, Archie really could jump. She shook her head and took off her helmet. She would take her turn against Regina's cannon next time.

She grabbed her glove and stretched her arms above her head. It was show time. She did a couple of practice pitches to Snow and grinned when they were perfect strikes. Henry's gym teacher was the first batter up. Her short blonde hair was hidden under her bright red cap but her eyes were all business. Emma swung her arms and got ready.

Let's do this, Swan.

She wound up and released the ball with a snap of her elbow. The crack of the bat made her curse. It was a hard line drive that sailed right through the gap between Blue and Michael. Dopey grabbed the bouncing ball and tossed it back to her to stop the play. Way too late, though. Jill Hill was safely on first-base.

Shake it off, Swan.

Kathryn was next and Emma scowled. This woman had cursed memories of playing all the way through college. She probably had had some skills. Well, she wasn't without her own skills.

First pitch: ball.

Second pitch: foul ball.

Third pitch: deep right field. Crap cakes. Nova was their weak-spot and true to form the fairy was nowhere near it. It could have been a double, but Jill and Kathryn seemed complacent in taking a base each. Whale, sporting jersey number 69, strutted to the plate. Oh she hated that guy. She hate hate hated him. She also hated that he pussy-bunted and she had to scramble for the ball. She scraped through the dust and still couldn't get the ball to David fast enough.

Damn it! Bases loaded and no strikes. Son of a bitch, son if a bitch, son of a freaking bitch. She sucked, worse she was sucking in front of her Kid and his perfect mom.

All right, suck it up, Swan. She could almost hear her old coach screaming from the dugout. Actually Snow was screaming at her from behind the plate and Blue was screaming something else from second base. She ignored them both. She looked up in the stands and found Henry with Ava, Nick and Grace. He was a white shirt in a sea of blue.

Ruby, in all her barely clad glory, stepped up to the plate with a very cocky grin on her face. The Red Team's part of the stands erupted into cheers. Ruby was, apparently, a favorite. Considering she was dressed like a pin-up girl it was no surprise that so many were cheering.

Emma tugged the brim of her cap down again. She couldn't blow this one. The crowd, half of it at least, was chanting "Grand Slam!"

Over her dead and rotting corpse would the werewolf waitress get a hit off of her.

She squared her shoulders and dug in her cleats. She could do this. Strike her fine ass out, Swan.

She took a deep breath and tossed the ball in her hand. Her family was counting on her, Henry was counting on her. More importantly she was not going to lose to Regina Freaking Mills.

She shook out her arms and then slid into position. She moved like a well-oiled machine and knew the second that the ball left her fingers that it would be a strike.

"Strike one!"

Hell yeah!

Snow threw her back the ball and she smirked and caught it easily. Ruby stuck her tongue out in retaliation and then re-shouldered the bat. Emma slid her foot into position again and snapped the next pitch off.

"Strike two!"

The crowd was on their feet and Emma knew without being told that Ruby had never struck out.

Oh it was go time.

Ruby's eyes narrowed and Emma squinted right back at her.

She caught Snow's toss and rolled her shoulders. One more to go. Finish it, Swan.

She snapped off the pitch and the crowd went momentary silent.

"Strike three! You're out!"

Ruby dropped the bat, shock written on her face. The Blue crowd went wild. Absolutely fucking wild. Emma hadn't felt this powerful since she had chest-boomed Cora onto her ass.

It was good to be the Savior.

Ruby walked, dejected, back to the dugout and Emma almost bumbled the catch when she saw Regina meet her midway and sling one arm around her shoulder. Wait, wait just a damn minute. Had Regina just hugged Ruby? Seriously, had that just happened? Wait, did Ruby hug her back? The two women disappeared into the dugout. Emma wasn't sure how she felt about the sudden love-fest. She had other, way bigger, fish to fry. A massive man stepped up to the plate. Oh hello Paul. He was six-seven if he was an inch and Emma gulped. She tried to remember what Blue had drilled into her. Slow but powerful. It was time to bring the heat.

She threw the first pitch so hard she would swear she could hear her shoulder pop. A big swing and a total miss. Ball, ball, strike and she hurled the ball as fast and hard as she could. Strike three. Now Storybrooke was on its feet. She had just struck out the Red Team's two biggest hitters. The Savior was in the House!

She turned around and looked at Blue. The Fairy looked suitably impressed. When she turned back around she caught an eyeful of a very svelte, very pissed off Regina Mills with a bat in her hands. With a red batting helmet covering her head and a jersey that looked like it had been tailored to her form and white pants that left little to the imagination. It was her eyes, though, dark and bright in the shadow of her batting helmet, that made the picture complete. Emma smirked and rolled her shoulders, ready to pitch to a woman who had never looked so much like The Evil Queen in Henry's book as she did just then.


	4. Part IV

Part IV

Evil Queen versus The Savior. Two outs, bases loaded, and even though it was the first inning, it felt like one of those movie moments. The bottom of the ninth, game is on the line, moments. They stared each other down and then something happened. Something that left Emma confused and amazed. Regina winked at her from underneath her batting helmet.

What in the ever-loving hell was that?

She watched Regina step up to the plate and take a test-swing. She twitched her leg and then she wiggled her butt before turning to stare her down, bat at the ready.

Holy shit. Holy shit. That was the hottest thing she'd ever seen. Holy shit.

Focus, Swan.

Regina was trying to get into her head, somehow. It was not going to work. She was going to strike out the Evil Queen.

"Show her whose boss, Regina!" Kathryn screamed from second base.

"Blondie's got nothing!" Whale taunted from first.

"Send her back to Mama crying, Cap'n!" Ruby's scream from the dugout made Snow flinch behind the plate.

"Knock that ball down her prissy throat, Your Majesty!" Jill from third screamed. Okay, that one was just inappropriate.

Regina only smirked and raised that damn eyebrow in challenge.

She kicked the dirt, and focused on the moment. The windup, the pitch, the swing and the mi-

The ball cracked off the bat and it was a hard line drive to the right. Damn it so much, the right! It flew just above Blue's outstretched glove and flew way past Nova's limp one. It bounced across the grass and stopped near the far right fence.

"Get it! Get the damn ball!"

Were nuns allowed to cuss?

Nova stumbled before she started to run and Dopey ran from centerfield. Emma dropped her head and ignored the triumphant runners as they rounded the bases. Regina freaking Mills had just pulled off an in-the-park grand-freaking-slam.

Emma wanted to scream.

The ball eventually flew back to her, courtesy of Dopey. Too late, though, way too damn late. They were four runs down in the first inning. Townsfolk on the red side of the bleachers were screaming so loud Emma was pretty that Boston would file a noise complaint soon.

Regina and Kathryn hugged over home plate and Hill and Whale clapped each other on the back like idiots. They walked to the dugout and Ruby met them with a huge smile. Team spirit, rah rah freaking rah. Emma chomped on her gum so hard that she bit the inside of her cheek.

The seventh batter was Jack Hill and Emma struck him out, but felt little joy. Their team returned to the dugout and David patted her on the back as they went.

"We'll catch up. There's plenty of time."

She ducked into the dugout to grab a helmet and take a swig of water from her bottle. Snow grabbed her around the shoulders. "You can do this, Emma. Knock that ball into the Enchanted Forest."

No pressure, though, really.

She grabbed her bat and walked back out onto the field and immediately felt every eye on her. Regina versus Emma, round 2. She could do this. She wasn't going to let the freaking Evil Queen strike her out. She took her place at the plate and shook her shoulders out. She was a good batter. She had excellent hand-eye coordination and a solid follow through. She was also determined as hell to pound the ball so hard and high that Archie would have to have springs in his damn shoes to catch it.

"She's going to strike you out big time."

Emma didn't bother to look at Granny. She stared at Regina and this time the woman didn't wink. Her chocolate brown eyes flashed dangerously, all business.

Bring it on, Madame Mayor.

Regina tossed the ball up and down in her left hand and her bright red lips quirked into a smirk. She pushed through the dirt with her cleat once then took her stance, graceful as a ballerina who was about to pirouette. Her face smoothed out and for a moment she looked at perfect peace with the universe. Then her body shifted and snapped and before Emma had even realized the woman had thrown she heard Marco bellow, "Strike one!"

She hadn't even swung her bat.

Damn it!

She stepped back and shook her head to clear it. Focus, Swan.

She stepped up to the plate again and this time she would not let the pitcher distract her.

"If you stop ogling her and pay attention to the ball, you'd probably at least get a swing in."

Emma tightened her grip and studiously ignored Granny's trash talk. She saw it coming this time and knew she was going to hit it. She did, but only with the edge of her bat. She felt the power of the pitch run up into her arms as the ball flew foul.

Regina could freaking bring the heat.

Granny chuckled behind her as she threw the ball back. "She's just better than you, Swan. Get used to it."

Okay, no more big tips for her.

Emma raised het bat again without stepping back. She cocked a brow and jutted her chin out just a little. She knew that her body language delivered her message just as easily as words. She told Regina very simply to bring it on, bitch.

Time slowed down for a moment and Emma focused on the ball. It came flying out of Regina's left hand and she timed her swing exactly right. She felt the hit reverberate through her arms and into her shoulders, solid and true. It went high and deep into center field. The second she realized that it cleared Jack's head she started sprinting. If Regina could pull off a grand slam, then she could at least get a double. She rounded first without stopping to even glance at Kathryn, she focused on second and the way Whale was crowding the base, like he was daring her to barge through. It was a race between her and the ball that Jack hurled at Whale. All or nothing, Baby. She shoved past Whale and her right foot touched base just as the ball hit his glove.

"Safe!"

Whale cursed under his breath and when Regina turned to catch the ball he threw her, Emma raised both eyebrows and grinned.

Yeah, Regina had gotten a bigger hit, but they were still one-for-one.

Grumpy's hard line drive between second and third got her to third base and Regina struck Dopey out.

"Move in!"

Ruby called from just beside her.

Kathryn echoed the call, "Bring it in, guys!"

Jill at shortstop practically joined Regina on the pitcher's mound. "Princess can't hit, guys, let's just take a breather!"

Emma supposed she should be mad, they were talking about her mother after all. She couldn't though, she tried to hold in a chuckle. Snow was terrible at bat and they all knew it. She was even worse when she was mad and the taunting was already turning her cheeks pink.

"You can do it, Snow!"

She shouted and knew that she was lying through her teeth.

"I am going to really enjoy that fifty bucks."

Emma rolled her eyes at Ruby's remark and readied herself for a run that she knew she wasn't going to make. Emma watched Regina and couldn't help but notice that her grin was even bigger.

The Evil Queen was really going to enjoy striking her arch-nemesis out.

A ball (the first for Regina) and a two strikes and Emma could almost see the steam coming out of Snow's ears.

"Ooh royal temper tantrum incoming!"

Jack's voice boomed from the edge of the diamond.

"No ball, though." His sister added.

Emma winced at Snow's snarl and sighed when Regina threw yet another strike that sailed right past Snow's swinging bat.

If they lost this game, Emma was moving out. Possibly back to Boston, because Snow was going to be impossible to deal with and love had its limits.

She relaxed, sighed again and got ready to head back to the dugout because their next batter was Nova.

Jill, and Emma was definitely starting to hate her, started to laugh.

"Bring it on home, guys. The little fairy's got nothing."

She plopped her hands, both glove covered and bare, on the top of her cap and cocked a hip out lazily.

Emma's was not the only jaw that dropped when Nova hit her first pitch hard and fast right at Jill's head. The blonde woman ducked just in time and the ball landed in the unattended green grass. Both Jack and Archie ran for it. Nova was still at the plate, mouth wide open.

"Run Nova!"

The brunette squeaked, dropped her bat and ran towards first, leaving home plate wide open for Emma. The good news was that Emma scored, the bad news was that Ruby tagged Grumpy out as he tried to stretch his run into a double. They were still down by three, but the Blue team was invigorated now.


	5. Part V

Part V

The seventh inning was starting and Regina stretched her back as she headed back out to the pitcher's mound. She was sweating now, and her muscles were lose and warm. She was in her groove and her team was up five-to-three. It was getting dirty out there. The taunting and cat-calling was getting progressively more raunchy and personal. She never took part in the shouting, but enjoyed it immensely. She had known that Ruby and Jill would run their mouths, but Kathryn had honestly surprised her. Who could have guessed that a little softball would bring out such a mean-streak in the otherwise sweet blonde?

She bent her knees slightly and wiped some dust from the mound across her left hand to get rid of the sweat. She and Miss Swan had been having a match all their own throughout the game. Neither of them had struck the other out yet, though she had come close the last time the blonde had been at bat. Swan had saved herself with a hard line drive down the first base line, but only after two perfect strikes. Emma was a good batter and, she could admit to herself, a worthy opponent.

Granny tossed her the ball and she caught it automatically. The first batter up was Michael and he had yet to get a hit. His children, sitting by Henry in the stands, were on their feet screaming for him. A twinge of guilt shot through her and she pushed it to the back of her head. She was not the Evil Queen here, she was a ball player. She tugged her cap down and squared her shoulders. She would strike him out again, no problems.

"Aim for her head, Michael!"

The Blue Fairy was in the on-deck circle, practicing her swing with a smug smirk on her face. The other woman had always been competitive, but this year was something else. She was almost rabid and had stopped speaking like a nun or a fairy around the third inning. She had become an interesting mix of a general and a sailor. It would be amusing if it wasn't so damn annoying. The woodsmen-turned-mechanic stepped up to the plate and took his stance.

Her first pitch was low and outside and he didn't even bother to swing at it. Ball one. She over-corrected a tad and her second pitch cut a little too close to the inside. She scowled at herself, she hadn't expected to pitch a perfect game but she didn't want to let him take a base either.

"Uh oh! Grumpy bellowed from the dugout, "The Evil Queen's getting pissed, better watch out for fireballs, Mike!"

Of all the rude and inconsiderate things- She slid her foot faster and harsher than usual through the dirt and cocked her leg a little farther. Her pitch was hard, fast and dead-on. Since she had telegraphed her every move, she was not surprised that Michael hit it. The fact that the ball was flying directly back at her did shock her a little, not enough to slow her down though. She sidestepped and caught the ball. It was going so fast that her shoulder rolled with the impact. A small twinge preceded the burn of abused scar tissue in her right shoulder and she cursed between grit teeth. It was not a hyper-extension, but her old injury was definitely aggravated now.

Play through the pain, she told herself. And she tossed the ball negligently in the air and caught it with her left hand. She still had a little blue gnat and a shepherd to strike out. She grit her teeth in a facsimile of a smile. Play through the pain, she was going to win this game and rub it in Snow's scowling face.

Her first pitch, far more controlled then her last, was a strike, but her second and third were balls. Her right shoulder twinged with every pitch and it was effecting her performance. She itched to cast a small healing spell to alleviate the pain, but immediately rejected the idea. She was too damn proud and too damn dedicated to her team to cheat. When she beat Snow's team of prancing idiots it would be because she had outplayed them, not because of magic.

With that in mind she struck out the blue fairy with two fast and accurate pitches. Charming flinched twice, earning her a strike and a ball, before sending a pop-fly strait into right field where Paul caught it easily. Emma followed her father in the line-up and stepped up to the plate with a cocky bounce in her step.

Oh how she wanted to strike her out. She wanted to watch Emma walk back to the dugout with her shoulders slumped and a little less swagger in her sexy hips. She was going to strike the Savior out even if it hurt. She watched Emma stretch, raising the bat above her and behind her head. Her arched back pushed her chest up and out and her breasts strained against the fabric of her jersey. Regina felt her mouth go instantly dry. Emma certainly was athletic. The woman finished her stretch and took a practice swing out by the plate. She turned her head and said something to Granny. Regina honestly didn't want to know. Granny was usually bad behind the plate but had gotten progressively worse as the night went on. The trash talk on the field had the woman riled up. Emma stepped up to the plate and shook out her left, then her right leg. She flexed her elbows and shifted her shoulders ever so slightly. When she turned her head to watch for the ball, Regina was momentarily struck by the intensity of her eyes. The woman's eyes were greener than usual and focused solely on her. For a second there was no one else on the field or in the stands, it was just her and Emma. Then the blonde winked at her.

She chalked the shiver that went through her as adrenaline.

Strike, ball, strike, ball, ball. Swan needed to either hit the damn ball or miss spectacularly because Regina refused to give up a walk to her. Actually she would prefer a strike because she would be just a little bit closer to resting her arms. The repetitive motion of pitching, even with her left arm, was causing bolts of pain to run through her right.

Play through the pain.

She slid her foot through the dirt and snapped off a pitch. Emma hit it hard and deep to the right. Paul didn't catch it in the air, but grabbed it quickly. He winged the ball to Kathryn and she, in turn, threw it to Whale, but Emma reached second base safely.

***

Emma stretched her legs and got ready to run again as Grumpy stepped up to the plate. Regina's pitches had been slower and a little wild. Her face hadn't been stretched into a smile, it had been a grimace. She was hurt and being too damn stubborn to call a time-out. She watched the woman from behind and was actually able to look at something north of her behind. Regina was dropping her right shoulder every time she threw a pitch. The line-drive, she had been fine before catching that damn line drive.

"Ball 2!"

Worry began to replace the adrenaline. She spared a look at Whale, "She okay?" The man was a doctor, he had to have noticed something.

He hesitated, his mind clearly on the game and little else. "Old battle scar, I think."

Of course the Evil Queen would have battle scars.

"She wasn't always able to catch arrows, or so I heard."

"Strike 1!"

Emma watched the woman wind up again, the way the muscles of her back rippled and stretched, the graceful leg lift, the power of her left arm and the stiffness of her right. How much damage could an arrow do if it had hit Regina's shoulder? She had no freaking clue.

"Strike 2!"

Okay, she was throwing strikes again, so maybe she was fine.

"Strike 3!"

Striking 'em out like a pro. She was totally fine, Emma decided. No doubt about it. Dopey, a lack-luster batter, stepped up to the plate. Emma stretched again and tipped her batting helmet up a bit. Dopey, who hadn't hit a damn thing all night, cracked off a hard line-drive down the first base-line. It flirted with going foul, but Emma chanced it. She took off towards third base.

She caught it out of the corner of her eye, and instantly wished that there was instant replay, because the way Kathryn had jumped up, caught the ball then hurled it at Ruby before touching the ground was ESPN-worthy. The waitress tagged her out with a little-harder-than-necessary slap of her glove and a mile-wide grin.

It had been a picture-perfect double-play.

"Nice one."

Emma may be on the opposite team, but not everybody had to be as rabid as her mother about the game.

Ruby grinned and pulled her glove off of her left hand, "Thanks. You're not doing too bad yourself."

They parted ways to walk to their separate dugouts and Emma paused to look over her shoulder. Jill, foul-mouthed and pushy, Hill had her hands on Regina's shoulders. Massaging them as they walked across the field. What was worse, more interesting she meant, was that the Mayor allowed the touch. In fact, Emma was pretty sure that she saw the brunette's cap-covered head loll limply to the side as they entered the dugout. When the hell had Regina become so touchy-freaking-feely? First Ruby, then Kathryn, and now the gym teacher? What was up with that?

Grumpy pulled his glove on and sneered. "Oh yeah." She'd walked in on some conversation between the dwarf and the mechanic, "Jill definitely shoots from the left. I think she spends all year trying to figure out how to get her hands on The Evil Queen during the game."

Wait, what? Oh. Oh! She got it now. An archer who shoots from the opposite side of the bow. It was a gay thing. Well, that sort of made sense, in an Enchanted Forest-Medieval Times kind of way. She threw her batting helmet against the dugout wall and hoped everyone mistook the movement for anger over being tagged out. If Hill was gay, and the gym teacher-softball coach, short-haircut and cocky walk all told Emma that she was, why was she devoting her time to chasing Regina? The mayor wasn't gay. She was prim, proper and well, evil. Totally not gay, though. Even if she was, the woman wouldn't waste her time with a pushy, foul-mouthed, cheezy blonde, wanna-be pro with obvious moves like Hill. If the gym teacher didn't keep her hands to herself, Emma was going to have a very long talk with her after the game.

She took a long drink of water and let her thoughts settle down for a second. Why should she care? If Regina wanted shoulder rubs and hugs from her teammates, what did it matter? Her female teammates. Her attractive female teammates who seemed all too happy to touch her. Emma grabbed her glove and glared at Snow before the other woman could say anything. She definitely didn't want to talk to her mother about this. Not that this was a thing. Because she wasn't jealous. Emma stalked out of the dugout and towards the mound. She caught a glimpse inside of the Red Team's dugout where Hill was still massaging Regina's shoulders and Kathryn was leaning close to talk to her with a big smile on her face. Okay, maybe she was a little jealous.


	6. Part VI

Part VI

It was the roughest Red versus Blue game she could remember, and since Ruby had played in all of them that was saying something. There was something about softball that got her inner-wolf excited. Maybe it was the competition, maybe it was the (usually) good natured taunting and teasing. Maybe it was seeing Madame Mayor in tight white pants. She wasn't sure, but she kept signing up every year. Ruby Lucas loved playing and she especially loved winning. Even the return of her memories hadn't swayed her devotion to the Red Team. Sure, she had fought a war at Snow's side, but this was the annual game and she was a true Red. Pun, she grinned to herself, totally intended. It was the bottom of the seventh and she was ready for her turn at bat again. They were ahead by two runs, but the game was winding down and everyone was losing steam. Paul's face was cherry red and he was sweating hard. The huge man was built for power, not endurance. Archie's jumps were a little less high now, because even crickets legs started to get tired eventually. Granny's knees were starting to ache and pop. Then there was Regina. Ruby rolled her own shoulders in sympathy. Regina was hurting pretty bad, but refused to give in. She was, Ruby had to give credit where credit was due, being a trooper. No cursing, no curses, nothing. It was almost like Regina was a different person on game day. Well, all game week, actually.

She was actually nice on game week. Every night they had practiced in the mayor's large and perfectly manicured backyard, she had cooked up a storm for them. Not just lasagna, either. There had been barbecue chicken one night that had knocked everyone's socks off. Granny had all but begged and offered up her soul for the recipe. Everything had been calm, relaxed and sometimes it had been hard to remember that Regina was the Evil Queen. No one truly evil could make such an amazing pasta salad. It had to be a law somewhere, seriously. It was more than food, though. Softball brought something out in Regina. A whole new side of her, someone that wasn't a villain bent on destroying everyone's happiness. Someone Ruby actually liked.

She pulled on her batting glove and turned to watch Kathryn step up to the plate. The Blue Team started screaming their taunts almost immediately.

"Daddy can't buy you a hit, Princess!" Michael was grinning like a madman and chomping on his gum in big, over blown movements.

"Hey why don't you try to break up another marriage?" Grumpy was really being a shit tonight.

"Goldie's got nothing on the Blues!" Even David was getting in on the smack-talk and he'd been married to the woman.

Ruby felt a growl in her chest. They were stepping over the line out there.

Not that Kathryn seemed to notice. She tossed her blonde braid over her squared shoulders and readied herself to bat. Ruby grinned, all the bullshit they were screaming was just giving Kathryn more fuel for her fire. The woman had a quiet kind of temper that bubbled underneath the surface until she was provoked.

"Hit it out of the park, Kath!"

Ruby screamed and felt like howling a little.

Her better-then-perfect vision allowed her to see Kathryn smirk. Ruby hoped the Blues liked the taste of dusty leather because Kathryn was about to knock the ball down their collective throat. She turned her attention to Emma and watched the blonde wind-up and pitch. Just when Kathryn should have swung her bat, she twisted around, her face stretched in surprise, shame and a little bit of horror. The ball flew by her, a perfect strike, but her attention was on Snow.

Marco's call of "Strike One!" was almost drowned out by Regina's regal roar of "Time Out!"

The woman, shorter than usual in cleats, stormed out on to the field with her hands motioning into the "t" that called for time. She had taken her cap off at some point and her dark hair was sweat soaked and sticking to her red-with-fury face. It was safe to say that the ex-Evil Queen was royally pissed off. Kathryn, face pale under her red batting helmet and twin swipes of eye black, stepped away from the plate, shoulders slumped and eyes stormy with what might be tears.

Ruby couldn't hear what they were saying over the chants of the Blue Team and the assorted cheers and calls of the crowd but she could see their faces and guess.

Regina's brows were set in a hard line, her red lips moving fast. Kathryn's was lightening up, relaxing, and smiling. Whatever Regina was saying was apparently working. When Regina's hands settled on each of Kathryn's arms, her bright red lips turned up into a grin. Kathryn met the grin with a full-blown smile of her own. Ruby swore to herself then and there that she was going to learn to lip-read.

The conversation, whatever it was, ended and Kathryn turned back to the plate, shoulders squared and head held high. Ruby's jaw dropped a little when Regina spurred the woman on with a cheeky smack to her ass. Ruby twisted her head around so fast that she heard vertebrae pop, but catching the look on Emma's face was worth it. The Savior's jaw was tight and her eyes flashed under the brim of her bright blue cap. Ruby chuckled, jealousy looked good on Ems. If her luck held out she would be winning more than one bet tonight.

Regina signaled the end of the time-out and returned to the dugout. Her fierceness dropped away almost immediately and Archie handed her a bottle of water. She thanked him quickly and tipped the bottle back to down half of the liquid in one long gulp. Ruby split her attention between the mayor and Kathryn at bat. Whatever Regina had told the blonde seemed to work because though she missed the pitch, her swing was huge and Snow missed her catch big time. Marco had to leap out of the way to avoid getting hit. Kathryn nailed the third pitch, a pop fly that fell in the grass just beyond and between Blue and Michael, and made it to first long before the ball did. Ruby grabbed her preferred bat, a red and black Demarini CF5 that she had sniped out from under a high school girl's nose on e-bay, and got ready to step out and practice. She paused, though, and took one last look at Regina.

The pitcher was sitting on the bench between Archie and Pongo, their official mascot, with her head leaned against the block wall and her eyes closed. Her lips, though, were still quirked in a small smile. Woman definitely loved her softball. Then it hit Ruby like a smack to the back of the head (Granny's specialty) it wasn't the game that made Regina so pleasant and happy. It was the team. She loved being a part of their team. This was the one time of year when she wasn't the mayor or the Evil Queen, she was included in something other than business. Today, and only today, she was treated like an actual accepted part of the town. Regina wasn't pretending to be nice because she wanted to win, she was actually being nice because she felt she could be. She was happy, playful and fiercely loyal because that's who she was underneath the business suits and threats.

"Hey Regina"

The woman's dark eyes flicked open immediately.

"What did you tell Kathryn to say out there?" If it made Snow lose her shit so quickly, it had to be something either really good or really evil.

The other brunette rubbed her right shoulder with her left hand and chuckled, "I told her to ask Snow how David liked sleeping on rubber sheets."

Ruby raised a brow, somewhat confused.

"Snow had a little bed wetting problem until she was fourteen."

She knew she shouldn't laugh. Snow was her best friend, after all. She couldn't help it, though. She threw her head back and laughed so hard she almost started to cry. She wasn't the only one laughing either. Granny chuckled, Jill almost fell on the floor giggling and even Archie, the nicest guy in town, was hiding a chuckle behind his hand.

"You are crazy, Regina. Just a freaking crazy beautiful diabolical genius."

Jack grinned and ruffled a hand through his sweat-soaked blonde hair, "Yeah she's our crazy beautiful diabolical genius."

Jill's face split into a smile just a tad too big for her face and winked, "Definitely."

Ruby stepped out onto the field and took her place in the circle that marked her as the next-to-bat. She needed to clear her thoughts, but couldn't. All she could think of was how different Regina and Storybrooke could be, could have always been, if she and her teammates treated Mayor Mills like their pitcher Regina all year long.

"Why don't you stitch together a monster to hit the ball for you, Frankenstein?"

David's bellow from first base made Ruby jerk and her mind refocused on the game. If the Blues wanted to play dirty, they were about to see exactly how much of a wolf she could be.

***

Emma felt her cheeks burn red. She seriously could not believe that things had devolved so quickly on the field. This wasn't a softball game, it was a freaking circus. Even David, the meekest Knight in Shining Armor ever, was getting downright mouthy. Then there was Snow, and Emma wasn't even sure she wanted to know at this point. What was up with Regina, though, that was something Emma wanted to know. The woman was too stubborn to call a time out when she was hurt, but the second Kathryn, or Abbigail or whatever, got her feathers a little ruffled Regina marched out of the dugout like she was King Kong on cocaine and stopped the game. Emma's right hand tightened around the ball and she could almost feel the stitches tattooing into her palm. She hadn't just given the blonde a pep-talk, though, oh no. She had touched her. Regina, haughty and humorless Mayor Mills, had reached out and touched the other woman, held her and smiled at her. Then she had groped, patted, smacked, whatever, she had touched the other woman on the ass. What. The. Fuck. Seriously, what in the actual fuck had that been? She had just reached out and goosed another woman, a married woman and technically Emma's ex-step mother, right on the field in front of the entire town.

She grit her teeth and ignored the fact that she had heard a roar of laughter come from the Red dugout not long after that. Freaking Regina Mills and her touchy-feely-team-capitany ways. Freaking Regina Mills and her fucking beautiful smile that had been pointed at every woman but her. Freaking sweaty, flush-faced, dusty, amazing looking Regina Freaking Mills who looked far too good to be evil. Freaking Regina whose stupid freaking Red team was beating her.

Okay, maybe she was more than a little jealous.

She pitched the ball at Whale hard and fast, and smirked when Marco called it a strike. Any exhaustion she had thought she'd felt, any fatigue in her muscles or ache in her joints, disappeared. It was like she was back in the first inning, energized and powerful. Screw the Red Team, she was going to bring it home for the Blues tonight.

She caught the ball Snow threw at her. Her trash-talking mother had apparently recovered from whatever Kathryn had sneered back at her. Good. She needed the team to pull together if they wanted to win.

She struck Whale out without missing a pitch and grinned at herself. She could do this.

Ruby stepped out next and her strut to the plate was less cheesecake and more butt-kicking. The leggy brunette was all business this time. When she raised her bat and turned her head, Emma would swear to whatever fairy tale folks held holy that she saw the woman's eyes flash gold.

Bring it on, Wolf Girl.

She shook herself to loosen up her shoulders, elbows and wrists and banished all thoughts of Regina and her booty-smacking self, from her mind. She went through the motions, the exact same way she had all night long, and released the ball with a snap. Ruby swung hard but only caught the ball with the tip of her bat. It went immediately foul.

"Hey Red, do you wanna play fetch, girl, do ya?"

Emma looked over her shoulder and glared at Michael.

"How does it feel to be the Evil Queen's Bitch?"

Emma didn't bother to turn around and look at the Blue Freaking Fairy, but they would have words later. Lots of words, most of them curses.

The scowl on her face was something new and it was deep and dark on her usually lovely face. Emma felt the other woman's eyes bore into her like it was wolf's time and she was a yummy looking bunny rabbit. Emma silently reminded herself to get off Ruby's shit list ASAP, the woman could give Regina a run for her money in the scary glare department.

Pitch two: ball

Pitch three: strike

Emma hurled the ball again and this time Ruby hit it hard and deep to centerfield. It missed Dopey's glove by less than six inches and Ruby's long legs and wolf's speed got her to third base without breaking a sweat.

That was cool, it was fine, because third base was as far as the woman was going to get.

She wouldn't mind getting to third base with Regina, not one little bit.

Jesus Tap Dancing Christ, Swan, get a grip.

Paul Bunyan, she vaguely wondered where his big blue ox was, stepped out to the plate.

"Big Man's too slow!"

David taunted from first.

"The bigger they are the harder they fall!"

Grumpy was a dwarf and he was teasing a dude big enough to eat him for breakfast. That took balls or a complete lack of brains, Emma wasn't sure which it was.

Emma struck the hulking right fielder out and let out a long sigh. Two down and one to go.

Of course the next batter up had to be Regina.

The chants got worse, which Emma hadn't even thought possible. Regina didn't seem to hear them, though. She pulled her batting helmet into position and then went through her sexy little routine of shaking both legs out, wiggling her delicious ass, and this time she rolled her right shoulder with only a little bit of a wince before she lifted her bat. Emma expected another wink, kind of craved it actually. What happened instead made her go momentarily weak in the knees. Regina pursed her lips in an air kiss that was pointed right at her.

The woman wasn't trying to get in her head, she was trying to kill her. Just give her the damn apple already. She'd happily bite into it and spend eternity having sexy Evil Queen dreams.

Emma grinned instead and got ready for her first pitch. It was a hard and fast strike. One down and two to go, she was going to strike Regina out this time. Her second pitch was another perfect strike, but Emma wasn't feeling her usual pride. Not when she noticed that Regina's face pulled into a painful wince every time she swung her bat. Why the hell wasn't she using a designated hitter? She could mess her shoulder up for life if she kept it up.

She wound up again, determined to strike the stubborn woman out for her own good. She wound up and snapped the pitch off, and knew before it even got to home plate that Regina was going to hit it. Aluminum and leather met with a crack and Emma blew out a sigh as the ball flew strait into right field. Regina took off like a shot.

Nova was, surprisingly, quick on her feet and got to the ball in seconds.

"Play it home!" Snow was already blocking home plate, glove ready.

Emma couldn't watch.

"Out!"

What?

Her eyes snapped open just in time to see Snow hurl the ball towards second base. Holy shit, they were going to get them both in one run. Go them! She twisted around and watched it happen in something close to slow-motion. Regina was running, arms pumping, chest heaving, and then she fell into the most graceful slide Emma had ever seen. One leg tucked and the other white-clad leg out, hands off the ground, a cloud of dust behind her. Like every other move Regina had pulled, it was a textbook perfect slide. Until she plowed into the Blue Fairy, at least. Blue had the ball and though she had tagged the base with her foot, effectively killing Regina's run, she crowded over the base anyway. She fell on top of Regina and they tumbled and tangled together in a mess of dust.

Marco's call of "Out!" was almost drowned out by a scream of pure agony.

Emma watched in horror and growing fury as her teammate, who had somehow ended up on top of Regina's red-clad form, dug her elbow into Regina's right shoulder and twisted it as she got up off of the ground.

Regina's head, the helmet had somehow come off during the tussle, had scraped against the hard packed dirt and there was a small cut on her cheek that was sluggishly bleeding. She was still on the ground, one hand holding her shoulder. Her face was twisted in pure pain and her face had gone deathly pale. Emma found her feet frozen to the mound, her heart jackhammered in her chest.

"Oh my God, Regina!"

Ruby sprinted across the field, closely followed by Whale and Hill.

The Blue Fairy stepped away and didn't even offer Regina a hand up. The redhead had something between a sneer and a smirk on her face and Emma had never wanted to punch someone so much in her life.

The members of the Red Team helped their Capitan up and Emma threw down her glove and started clapping. The crowd, previously silent, followed suit.

Some people, at least, remembered what the fuck sportsmanship was.

The traditional seventh inning stretch took place between the seventh and eighth inning in Storybrooke and Emma couldn't have been happier about it. She picked up her glove and stomped towards her dugout. Mother Superior, the whole team really, needed a "Come to Jesus" talk and Emma Swan was about to be the one to deliver the sermon. All fucking puns intended.


	7. Part VII

Part VII

She was trying to control the pain, and failing miserably. Regina grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, determined to neither cry nor cry out again. She had been through worse pain, when the arrows had actually pierced her shoulder, for instance. She could deal with this. Waves of pain radiated from her right shoulder and coursed across her back, up her neck and down her arm. Her fingers tingled and she knew that they would be numb soon. Her teammates walked with her to the dugout and she could vaguely hear some applause and perhaps some jeers, it was all a blurry cacophony of sound that meant little to her. She hurt too much to give a damn what the crowd thought at the moment. She sat on the bench in the dugout and leaned back against the cool block wall, unwilling and possibly unable to move again until she absolutely had to.

Two hands touched either side of her face, "Victor's gone for his medical bag and Archie is getting some ice." Granny's voice, sans its usual sass, "You're going to be okay, Cap'n."

Someone, she suspected Kathryn, sat down beside her. "Of course she is. Our Gina is a tough cookie. She's not going to let a fairy keep her down." Had anyone else dared to call her by such a pejorative nickname or compare her to an over-cooked confectionery treat, she would have set them on fire as a matter of principle. Kathryn, though, was the exception. Despite the entire orchestrating her kidnapping debacle, she had a soft spot in her black heart for the woman.

"I have half a mind to go over there and put my cleat up that dust-slinging blue bitch's ass."

Regina smirked at Jill's comment and was not surprised to hear her brother comment of, "I'll hold her down, you kick."

She heard Whale and Archie return and forced herself to open her eyes. Pongo, smartly dressed in his own double-zero jersey (Henry had insisted that Pongo was a member of the team and had begged her to sew him a uniform several years ago), clamored up on the bench on the other side of her and laid his body across her lap. She smiled and dropped her good arm down to pet the canine on the head.

Victor Whale, all doctor now, knelt in front of her. "On a scale from one to ten, how's your pain?"

Truthfully, Regina mused, it was nearing an eight. "Six or so."

He frowned at her, "So eight or nine, then."

She didn't dignify that with an answer. Apparently Frankenstein was a half-decent doctor after all.

"I need to see your shoulder." He turned his head, "Ruby can you help her with her jersey?"

The brunette nodded and leaned over Pongo to help her with the bright red buttons of their team jersey. Usually Regina would knock her hands away, but she was in pain and Ruby was being careful. It was almost like they were friends. She unbuttoned the sweaty, dirty and now blood spattered jersey to reveal the "Eat at Granny's" tee-shirt she wore underneath.

"I'm going to have to cut your tee-shirt sleeve." What paused and grinned up at her, "Unless you want to give us a real show." His words were crude and a little lecherous, but the twinkle in his eyes told her that he was kidding. Granny slapped the man in the back of the head anyway and Regina smiled.

"Cut the shirt, Whale. We'll get her a new one." Granny's tone left no room for argument. Regina had always liked that about her.

She felt the cold shears snip away the fabric of her sleeve and knew when they could see her scars because she heard Kathryn's soft gasp and Ruby's hiss.

Medical care in their old world had been crude at the best of times and she had not been particularly adept at healing spells. The scars, thick and jagged, marked where two separate arrows had torn through her shoulder on two separate occasions. Such was the burden of being an Evil Queen who fought in a Civil War. The blue gnat's elbow had jabbed right into her weakest spot and twisted with what felt like every ounce of the other woman's weight behind it. She had almost vomited the pain had been so acute.

She didn't need to see her shoulder to know that the usually pink scars were swollen and flushed a deep and painful red. She could feel them throbbing. She could feel the damaged soft tissue underneath her skin burn and throb with every minute movement caused by her shallow breathes.

"There's not much I can do but try to reduce the swelling and relieve some of the pain." Whale examined her scar tissue with soft, gentle, fingers. "You really need to rest it."

They both knew that wouldn't happen. They had no alternate player and even if they shuffled everyone around, there would still be an enormous gap in their defense. Even if they did have an alternate, she wouldn't let herself be benched. She was far too proud and much too determined to quit now.

"Just bandage me up, Doctor. We have a ball game to win."

He sighed, "Keep this on your shoulder. It should help a little." Archie handed him a plastic Ziploc bag full of ice and he wrapped it in gauze then applied it to her shoulder. She jerked and let out a small grunt of pain. The ice burnt like fire on her skin. She was surprised to feel a hand in her hair and another on her good shoulder. Kathryn and Ruby were all but petting her. She should have shrugged them away, but didn't. She let her head loll back and she found herself smiling at the two women. Tomorrow it would be back to business as usual, but tonight it was like she had friends and she wanted the feeling to last.

"We're going to beat the shit out of those freaking assholes, Regina."

Jill's eyes flashed and she crossed her arms over her chest. The only thing that was holding her in the dugout, Regina suspected, was her brother's grip on her arm.

"Damn Skippy!" Granny handed her two Advil and a bottle of water, "Those Blues won't know what hit them."

"No more playing around." Kathryn squeezed her good shoulder, "It's time to take 'em to the mattresses."

Regina raised an eyebrow. Had the sugar-sweet Princess Abigail just quoted The Godfather?

Above her, hand still petting her head like a puppy (if she wasn't hurting so much she wouldn't be able to resist making a sarcastic remark about that), Ruby growled. "We're going to cream them, Cap'n. Just you watch. If you mess with one wolf." The werewolf-waitress growled again, "You get the whole pack."

Whale wrapped the ice to her with more gauze, it itched a little but the cold had finally started to cut through the pain.

"We'll show them exactly how Red rolls in Storybrooke."

He tilted her head to look at the scrape on her cheek. "It's not going to need stitches. He wiped the scrape carefully with an alcohol pad and then antibiotic cream. A small beige bandage covered the wound, and Whale sat back on his heels to survey his work.

"Still the prettiest pitcher in town."

Even Archie chuckled at the glare she gave Whale for that one.

The redhead lifted his cap to ruffle his sweat-soaked red hair, "If they ever had a chance, it's gone now." He held out his hand and it was quickly joined by Granny's, both the Hills and the rest of the team. Regina couldn't help but smile as she laid her left hand on top of the pile.

"Go Red!"

They broke up with a scream of "Go Red!"

***

Things in the Blue Dugout weren't quite as cheerful.

Emma threw her blue cap on the ground, followed by her glove.

"What the hell was that?"

She glared at the Blue Fairy and balled her hands into fists. The red-haired High Priestess of dust and mojo, or whatever she was, only raised a russet brow. "She slid, I tagged her out, and we both fell. Accidents happen, Princess."

The team said nothing, it was almost like they agreed. Only, she knew these people. They were good people, her family and friends. This wasn't like them at all.

"Here's the thing, Tinkerbelle, it wasn't an accident. You did it on purpose. I saw you sink your elbow into her bad shoulder and twist it. Just because you could. If we had an alternate I would bench your pixie ass so fast your head would spin." She stepped up into the redhead's space, nose to nose with her. "You are a stone cold bitch, Lady, and you should be freaking ashamed of yourself."

Blue didn't back down. If anything she puffed up more. "I'm the Team Captain, Swan."

Emma's eyes narrowed, "Well consider this a mutiny." She pushed the other woman away from her and smirked when she had to brace a hand on the dugout wall to keep from falling on her ass.

"No. Here's the thing. Consider this a wake-up call for all of you. This is supposed to be a friendly game. It's for charity for fuck's sake. Those are our friends out there and you people have turned it into some kind of Spartacus, Gladiator, Braveheart "Victory or Death" situation. Shame on you!"

Emma Swan, voice of reason. She was pretty sure that the ice-capades would be telecast live from Hell this year.

"This is a simple game: you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. You people have turned it into a mess. This could be the greatest night of our lives and you're making it the worst! Screaming about fireballs and cursed marriages and making dog jokes and for what? To win? If that's victory than you can keep it. I came out here to play a game, not fight like punks."

She wasn't sure where all this was coming from, a lifetime of crappy sports movies she supposed.

"When you put on that jersey you represent yourself and your teammates and everyone in the stands that have come out to support this team. The color of your shirt, the meaning behind it is more important than winning. It's a helluva lot more important than the name on the back. No more dirty tricks, no more shouted sucker punches. I am drawing the fricking line in the dirt right here. This far and no further. My Kid is out there in the stands watching." She whirled around to look at Michael, "your kids are out there watching. What the fuck are we showing them? It's okay to be assholes because we're the so-called good guys?"

That was something of a re-occuring theme in Storybrooke and Emma was sick to death of it.

She turned to glare at her mother and hoped Snow was listening to what she said.

"She's the Evil Queen." Blue had finally found her balls and spoke again. "She'll just heal herself."

Oh Hell to the no, bitch wasn't going there.

"Really?" She grabbed the nun's shoulder and jerked her around just in time to see Whale duck back into the Red team's dugout with his medical bag. Archie quickly followed with a bag of ice from the concession stand. She shoved the other woman away again, just as hard and a tad rougher than the last time, and wiped her hands on her jersey to get rid of any residual fairy bullshit.

"She's not the Evil Queen tonight. She's not even the Mayor. Her jersey is red and the back of it says Mills. She's a pitcher, a ball player. She has shown more freaking sportsmanship than this entire team combined. The Red team is kicking our asses because they're playing like a real team, not like a bunch of bitching teenage drama queens. If we keep this up they're going to walk away with the "W" again. You know what else, they'll freaking deserve it too. They're earning their stripes and they're doing it without being assholes. There's trash talk and then there's what you guys have been doing out there."

She took a deep breath, it was time to dig deep.

"We can't have any more freak outs. We won't have any more accidents and if I hear one more Evil Queen or Werewolf of Cricket comment out of any of you I will kick your ass myself. We've come too far. There's too much to lose. There's such a fucking thing as dignity and you are stomping all over it like spoiled-ass children."

She was mixing and matching movies, throwing in curses and trying to remember anything anyone had ever told her about sportsmanship. Basically she was pissed off and flying by the seat of her pants but she meant every damn word she was saying and her teammates had better listen and take it to fucking heart.

"Right now isn't about talent. It's about heart. It's about who can go out there and play the hardest and play the smartest. They've had their victories. They've been here before. They won't give it up. We're going to have to reach out and take it from them. As a team. I don't know about the rest of you, but my kid is watching and I am going to show him that I can play to win the right way. Hard work, determination, guts and sweat. I am going to go back out on that field and show Storybrooke exactly how True Blue I can be."

This was the cheesiest shit that had ever come out of her mouth.

"Exactly how good this entire team can be. Let's show them that The Blue Team came to play and win. Not for us, but for all of them. For our friends and our kids who came to watch a good game and cheer us on. They will watch us finish this game the right way and when we win they will know it was because we were the better team tonight. They will know what we can do. Now-"She held her hand out, "Who's with me?"

She was shocked to see that Grumpy's was the first hand to join hers.

"We can beat them fair, square and squeaky clean."

Nova's hand came next, and conveniently covered Grumpy's, "Definitely."

David and Michael's hands came next, followed by the other two dwarves.

Emma turned to look at Snow and was shocked to see the woman was crying.

"Mom?"

Snow blinked the tears away, "You're right, Emma." She put her hand in, "I am ashamed of myself."

She should be, but Emma kept that thought to herself.

Everyone turned to the Blue Fairy, who looked positively pissed.

"Fine. Whatever."

She dropped her hand on the pile.

"Blue on three."

She counted them down and the dugout echoed with their shouts of "Go Blue!"

Less than two minutes later the game started again and Snow shouldered her bat and walked out to the plate. Emma watched her go and hoped that the woman remembered her promise to play clean.

"That was" Nova, or Astrid or whoever she was slid up beside her, "really great, Emma."

Emma shrugged a shoulder, a little embarrassed by her display. "I think I'm going to be sued for copyright infringement. I got most of that from movies."

The right fielder grinned and picked up a bat, "I know. I watch Miracle at least three times a month, it's my favorite movie."

Nuns, or fairies, got to watch movies?

"It doesn't mean you weren't right. You always seem to be there when we need to be reminded where the line is when the so-called-righteous try to step over it." Then the fairy smiled big enough for twin dimples to pop out. "You really are the Savior, you know."

The crack of ball on bat made them both swing around just in time to see Snow get her first hit of the night (and maybe ever).

"Holy Crap!" David leapt to his feet, "Run, Honey, Run!"

When Marco called her "Safe!" Nova tugged her blue cap almost self-consciously as she stepped out to take her turn at bat. "See, things are already turning around, Captain."

Emma's mouth dropped open as she watched the slender woman walk out to the plate.

No wonder Grumpy liked her so much. She was pretty, sweet, and surprisingly insightful for a woman who had been locked up in a convent for twenty-eight years.

When she sent a ball bouncing across the diamond towards the middle of the third base line, Emma smirked. She was also full of surprises.


	8. Part VIII

Part VIII

It was official, Regina huffed, she was pitching the worst inning of her life. Even with the blessedly cool bag of rapidly melting ice on her shoulder, the pain was still negatively affecting her performance. She was pitching like a rank amateur. She should have snuffed out the Blue Fairy like a candle wick when she'd had the chance so many years before. She snarled and kicked the dirt beneath her cleats. Both Snow White and Astrid had earned singles and were on second and first base respectively. The dwarf, Happy, had already patiently watched two of her pitches fly wide and be called balls. Every pitch made it feel like a very large and very angry ogre was driving a blunted railroad spike into her shoulder.

Of all the years Snow had to get a hit, it had to be this year. The first post-curse game and the infuriating Snow White just had to get her first hit, not to mention she'd made it to first safe and sound. Regina could feel the vein in her forehead throb in time with her pulse and sweat was now pouring down her face, arms and back. She grit her teeth, partly from pain, but mostly to help control her temper. She was angry at Snow, for being her usual nauseating and annoying self.

She was angry at the Blue Fairy for her dirty elbow-throwing, cut-throat ways. The woman had always been sneaky, sly and manipulative, but she hid her darkness behind sparkles and taffeta. She, at least, had been up front about her intentions. The Evil Queen had not hidden her agenda or softened her curses with half-truths. Hers had been an honest evil.

Mostly, though, Regina was angry with herself. She was letting her team down. No matter how fast they ran, how hard they threw or how fiercely they played, batters were going to hit slow and sloppy pitches. They had come out, her wonderful Red Team, for the eighth inning, fired up and ready to go. Ruby had thrown her hands in the air and screamed at the red-clad members of the crowd to get on their feet and make noise. Kathryn, Whale and Jill had started chanting about "How Red Rolls!" and even the usually reserved outfielders had joined in. Granny had said nothing, she had pulled her catcher's mask down, but it couldn't hide her wide grin. Whatever she said would be between her and the Blue Team's batters. They were playing their hearts out and she was playing, to be cliché, like a girl.

She couldn't let her injury cost them the game. It wasn't fair to her team, and if they lost they would blame her. If they blamed her, they might not want her on the team again. Being the Evil Queen was a big enough mark against her, but being a loser on top of it, they would never forgive her. She had to win. If she led them to victory, they would like her, if only for the rest of the night.

Granny threw her back the ball and she caught it with a grimace. She could do this. She had to do this. She had to start throwing strikes again. She took her stance, and the bag of ice crackled under her jersey. Sweat dripped down her temples and when she licked her lips she tasted salt and dust. She shifted the ball in her left hand, fingers finding their usual home along the stitches of the ball. She pulled her back strait, stretched her arms, lifted her leg and then snapped off the pitch. Her left shoulder rolled smoothly, her right one caught half-way through its movement and another bolt of pain raced across her back.

"Ball 3!"

Rage burned through her being and she snarled at the call. Part of her, the part of her craved the tight embrace of leather corsets and wide eyes full of fear, wanted to march to the plate and show Marco exactly what the hell constituted the difference between a strike and a ball. The other, thankfully more dominant part of her knew better. She would not give in to her temper in front of the entire town and Miss Swan.

"Come on, Regina, you can do it!"

She felt a small smile tug at her lips at Archie's screamed words.

"Show the dwarf how Red rolls in Storybrooke, Cap'n!"

Ruby raised her fist in the air and pumped it up and down, "Show these Boo-Hoo Blues how the Regal Reds rule!"

Her smile grew bigger.

She caught Granny's throw and as soon as Happy was back in his stance at the plate she pushed her worry and pain into an iron casket and locked it away. She wound up and snapped off a pitch and knew, from the burn in her muscles and the way the ball flew from her fingertips, that it would be a strike.

"Strike 1!"

Marco's call echoed across the field and Jill let out a scream and Whale cheered.

She threw another pitch and it too, was called a strike.

One more. She wiped her sweaty hand on her dusty pants, one more strike and they would have an out.

She straitened her cap over her brow and readied herself for another pitch.

"Strike him out, Mom!"

It was faint, she almost didn't hear it. She turned her head and found Henry in the stands. He was sitting in the blue section with his friends from school (she was so very glad he finally had friends, it had been one of the few things she had never been able to buy him) but he had refused to wear a blue shirt. His shirt was white and he had painted a red number one on it for her.

He was on his feet, a cone of half-eaten cotton candy in one hand and a soda cup in the other. His face was split into a huge grin and he shouted again,

"Go Mom!"

She turned back to the plate and felt another smile steal across her face. She flowed through the movements and hurled the ball.

"Strike Three, you're out!"

The cheer from the Red section, and Henry, was almost deafening.

The batters changed, and Michael strutted to the plate. Her first pitch flew right past his swinging bat. He hit her second pitch, hard and deep to the right. Paul ran, but he was just a step too slow to catch the ball. Michael made it to second before she caught the ball to stop the play cold.

The Blue crowd hooted and cheered and Regina knew very well that the bases were loaded. She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to calm herself. Snow White had run across home plate and into her sickeningly sweet husband's arms. Regina didn't want to know what they were saying because if the phrase "I found you" met her ears she would vomit. Her team was still up by one but there was a runner on second and third. Damn it.

Then the Blue crowd fell silent and a chorus of "Boos" boomed from the Red side of the bleachers. Behind her, Jill muttered a curse and on third Ruby all but growled something that made her best friend Snow White snap her head around in shock. The Blue Fairy stepped up to the plate and knocked her bat against her cleat, all business.

"Strike her out, Your Majesty!"

Regina blinked, momentarily shocked, that call had come from the stands.

"Cheater!"

"Go Regina!"

"Show her how Red rolls!"

Her team, amused as she was by their audience's chants, started cheering and screaming. Ruby almost howled in delight.

She scraped her foot through the dirt and took her position. She felt her face fall into a very familiar expression: a scowl. She was done playing nice, it was time for The Evil Queen to come out and play.

Regina wound up and pitched hard.

"Strike One!"

She stared into the fairy's cold hazel eyes and caught Granny's toss without breaking eye-contact. This wasn't just softball, they had made it personal. She blinked the sweat away from her eyes and wound up again, her shoulder protesting every move. She let it fly and it raised an eyebrow when The Blue Fairy missed again. One more strike and the blue bitch would be back on the bench.

She wound up and felt her heart pound in her chest, it pulsed in her muscles and adrenaline poured into her blood. She catapulted the ball and watched as it flew, straight and true, towards home plate.

***

Emma, like the rest of the Blue Team, was on her feet in the dugout. Bases loaded, only one out, this was the best inning they'd played. They were only one run behind now and if they could keep going, they were going to win.

Only because, a snotty voice that sounded very much like Henry when he was pouting remarked in her head, Regina got the snot knocked out of her. Emma tugged her cap down over her eyes. The other woman's pitching had turned to shit and they all knew why.

"Strike Two!"

Well, maybe it wasn't total shit. She wasn't at her best, though. The ridiculously hard-headed woman was in pain and apparently determined to play through it. Her arm could fall off and Regina Mills would neatly wrap it in a plastic bag and continue to play as if nothing were wrong. Stubborn ass woman.

Though she knew she was supposed to be cheering for her team to knock it out of the park, she really wanted Regina to get that last strike. If anyone deserved to take the walk of shame back to their dugout it was the Blue Mosquito.

Regina wound up again, her movements as familiar to Emma as her own. Emma took it all in, the way Regina's hips twitched, the way she twisted her neck just a little before each pitch, the smooth flow of muscles in her back and arms, the graceful lift of her knee, then the snap of her arm that sent the ball flying. It was going to be another perfect stri-

The crack of ball on bat seemed louder than usual. Emma felt herself move involuntarily forward as soon as her eyes registered the fact that the hit was a hard line drive strait back to the pitcher's mound.

"That bitch!"

Grumpy's voice was gruff, but the shock was genuine.

Emma came around the side of the dugout just in time to see Regina's left hand snap out and pluck the ball out of the air like it was nothing. The smack of leather on flesh made Emma wince. Scarlet tipped fingers curled around the ball and she lowered her hand slowly, making sure everyone, including Mother Superior, had time to see what had just happened. The image of Regina catching that ball would forever be burnt into Emma's memory as the second or third sexiest thing she'd ever seen Regina Mills do. How the hell did the woman make everything look so intense and carnal? It had to be some kind of super power.

"Yeah Baby!"

Emma's head twisted to see Jill Hill practically dancing.

"Hail to the Queen!"

Whale threw both hands up in his excitement.

For her part, Regina only smirked. It was a different sort of smirk, a dark and almost evil look. Of course she had just caught a speeding softball with her bare hand, so she was entitled to be as much of an Evil Queen as she wanted. It was, Emma couldn't help but think, a damn good look on the other woman.

David let out a nervous chuckle when he left the on-deck circle and walked towards the plate. Emma traded her cap for a batting helmet, but her eyes never only left Regina long enough to glare at the Blue Fairy as she passed her on the way back to the dugout.

Emma swung her bat a few times, but only half-heartedly. Most of her attention was on David and Regina. Okay, mostly Regina.

She wound up again and threw. Emma's brows tightened at the woman's movements and was not surprised when Marco called it a ball.

Either she had hurt herself again, or her last pitch to the Blue Fairy had scraped the bottom of her seemingly endless supply of energy.

"Ball 2!"

Bases loaded, only one run ahead, now was not the time for Regina to start throwing like a girl.

"Ball 3!

On the one hand, she was thrilled because David was about to get Nova home and set her up for a Grand Slam, which would clinch the game for them. One the other, the victory would be hollow because it had been bought with Regina's pain.

"Ball 4!" Emma's heart sank in her chest when she saw Regina's face fall into a frown.

"Take your base!"

The Blue team screamed because Nova walking across home plate tied up the game and the Red Team watched silently, all their eyes on their pitcher's slumped shoulders.

Damn it. Damn it. Fucking damn it.

This game wasn't any fun anymore. Emma just wanted to call it a tie and be done for the night.

Nova streaked past her, a huge smile on her face, and all but jumped into Grumpy's arms.

"I scored!"

Emma almost laughed at the look on Grumpy's face, but then shouldered her bat and walked to the plate. As much as she wanted the game to be over, it wasn't. She stepped up to the chalk-lined batter's box and stretched her legs for a moment. She took another pointless practice swing before settling her hands on the bat. Her eyes were on Regina, whose face revealed nothing.

"How is she?"

Her question was directed at Granny. The usually sassy Diner owner only harrumphed, "Hurting. No thanks to your team."

Regina spared her no winks or air kisses. She pitched the ball and Emma didn't even flinch as it flew high and to the outside.

"Ball 1!"

Stupid stubborn woman.

Emma stepped back for a moment and gave Regina a moment to recover under the guise of straitening her blue socks. What the brunette needed, Emma decided, was a little boost. She shouldered her bat, and Emma Swan was just the girl for the job. She stretched again, slowly this time, making sure to swing her hips just a little more than necessary. When she turned to take her stance and look at Regina she did so with a toss of her head that sent her now sweat-darkened and tangled, pony tail flicking over her shoulder. She let her eyes drag up Regina's body, from the way her cleats kicked the mound, up the shapely line of her red-sock-clad calves and the long supple stretch of white baseball pants. She focused every ounce of want and desire on Regina as she let her eyes move slowly up her tight stomach and to her chest that moved up and down just a little faster than softball really called for. She made note of the bulge on Regina's right shoulder and the way her still-scarlet red lips were quirked into a very small and tight grin. Then their eyes met and Emma almost forgot that she was supposed to be playing a sport. Regina's eyes were as dark as the sky above them had become. They were also intense, swirling dark chocolate orbs that were just as bitter as they were sweet. Pain flickered in them, but Emma was dead certain that there was something else behind the pain. Something that looked very much like desire. Emma couldn't help it, she licked her dry lips and found herself wishing that her tongue was doing something else entirely.

Regina blinked and their moment was broken. Emma watched the woman wind up and swung at the ball. Her timing was off and she knew it. The ball flew through the air and wobbled a bit before it bounced on the hard packed dirt between first and second. She sprinted and in the time it took for Whale and Paul to get the ball back to Regina, Michael had reached home and they weren't just tied anymore, the Blue Team was up by one. They had, in the course of a single inning, turned the entire game on its head.

Emma was on first, but her mind was about a million miles away. She watched, detached, as Grumpy stepped up to the plate. If the diamond-mining janitor could score a solid hit, they would have the game in the bag for sure.

Ball, ball, strike, ball. Emma grit her teeth and clenched her fists. C'mon Regina, don't wuss out now.

"C'mon Gina!"

Kathryn's voice boomed from beside her.

"Strike his ass out!"

Emma broke the cardinal rule of softball and turned her head away from the action to look at the other blonde. Kathryn's face was flushed red and smeared with black. Her eyes were focused and her jaw was tight.

"Since when are you so buddy-buddy with Her Majesty?" Her voice carried more bite than she really intended but if anyone in town had the right to hold a grudge against Regina it was Kathryn. Yet here she was calling the mayor by a nickname.

Kathryn didn't even spare her a glance. "She's not so evil if you get to know her."

The crack of ball and bat jolted Emma into an automatic run.

She craned her neck in just enough time to see Ruby race to the ball

Granny's chant of "Play it home!" echoed around the diamond. Ruby hurled the ball to her grandmother and it beat Michael to home by what seemed like a mile.

"That's it, Gina!" Kathryn jogged past her and met Ruby, Jill, Ruby and Regina at the mound. Jill threw her arm around Regina's good shoulder and Ruby wrapped a long arm around her waist, fingers dangerously close to the Mayor's shapely ass.

Bitch.

Emma stormed back to her dugout to retrieve her glove.

Stupid best-friends-forever Kathryn and stupid fucking flirting Jill and traitorous touching Ruby.

The mini-party in the dugout did little to make Emma feel better.

Snow grabbed her in the closest thing to a bear hug the pixie-haired princess could muster and shook her.

"We're winning! I can't believe we're winning! Keep 'em on the ropes, Emma. Keep striking them out. We're going to win!"

She had never seen her mother so damn happy. It was just a little bit disgusting.

"It aint over 'till it's over, Snow."

She grabbed her discarded cap and pulled her glove onto her left hand. She clenched her fingers into the closest thing to a fist that the worn leather would allow.

"Let's get out there." She pulled her ponytail through the back of her cap, "And play like a team. It's not just me and it's not just you out there. It's us."

God she was going to vomit if she had to say anything else like that. Win or lose she was going to get drunk off her ass tonight. Maybe the burn of alcohol would get rid of the syrupy aftertaste of bullshit on her tongue.

She walked back to the pitcher's mound and squared her shoulders. She was so very ready for Miner's Day to be over. She was hot, sweaty, sore and felt like she was an extra in a shitty sports movie.

She shook herself out. The first batter up was Jack Hill. God she was so fucking tired of the Hills. Shouldn't they be fetching water somewhere? She blew out a breath and chucked the ball straight down the middle.

Of course he hit it, why wouldn't he? She shifted from foot to foot and watched while Grumpy ran in slow motion to grab the ball on its third bounce and hurl it to David. Jack made it to first, of course, and Emma sighed. The Red Team wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Archie stepped to the plate and Emma narrowed her eyes. Archie could jump but he was only batting about .250. She could do this. No sweat. She could totally strike out literally the nicest guy in town. Again.

Strikes one and two came easily. Even though her shoulder was starting to hurt a little, she was pitching pretty well. Maybe her coach had been right, maybe she did have a little bit of talent hidden under all her sarcasm. She wound up and pitched the ball again.

"Strike 3, you're out!"

A little bit of talent went a long way in Storybrooke. She felt herself smirk as she stretched. Snow tossed her the ball as Granny stepped up to the plate. Emma couldn't help but grin. Granny kicked ass behind the counter but wasn't so hot at the plate. Ha! Diner joke. Emma chuckled to herself and threw her pitch.

"Strike 1"

She grinned at the sour scowl that crossed Granny's face. She wound up again, heart pumping just a little bit of adrenaline into her system. Sweat stung her eyes and coated her skin, her muscles tugged and burned as she twisted into her stance and pulled her leg up to throw. The cramp hit her halfway through her movement. A hard, sharp clench in her hamstring that made her knee buckle just as the ball left her fingertips.

Time slowed down and she could hear herself scream a curse. Granny twisted but not fast enough. The ball caught her on the side. The thunk of ball on flesh made Emma wince and Granny roar in pain. Emma dropped her head. All of her talk about sportsmanship and she had just resorted to bean ball.

Granny's cry of pain caused a wave of outrage to rip through the Red dugout. Ruby leapt off the bench and ran towards her grandmother on the field. She wasn't the only one to leave the dugout.

Regina Mills was absolutely furious.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

She marched up to the pitcher's mound, ready to maim the infuriating blonde. How dare she? How dare she!

"It's not enough for you and your prancing band of blue idiots to injure me, but now you're throwing balls at Granny?!" She stepped onto the mound and into Emma Swan's space. Nose to nose, once again, with the Savior, Regina all but growled like the werewolf pair that were embracing over home plate.

"Do you think you can just hurt whoever you want to win?"

She wanted to hit her. She wanted to punch Emma Swan in her sweet and sweaty face. Maybe the sight of blood trickling down the all-too-familiar White Family chin would calm her down.

"It was an accident!" Emma hissed, her blue-green, more blue this close to her, eyes flashing. "I cramped up and my knee buckled. I didn't hit her on purpose!"

"I'm sure that's what the Blue Fairy said too!" She tried for anger but just a touch of pain sneaked through. She was pissed and in pain and felt a little bit betrayed. She had thought the so-called-Savior would play clean. She was supposed to be a challenge, not a cheater.

Emma's face flushed scarlet, "Fuck her and fuck this bullshit!" She threw down her leather glove and Regina could distantly hear Marco yelling at them to break it up. Neither of them moved. Not one to be one-upped, Regina took off her red cap and threw it to the dust beside Emma's glove.

"No. Fuck you, Miss Swan."

Emma's mouth fell open and her brows rose. Her hands rose and Regina all but dared her to hit her with a quirk of her brow. She expected a punch or a shove, but not two sweaty hands to settle on either of her cheeks. Then, without any warning, Emma jerked her head forward and they were kissing.

All thoughts of the game, of Saviors and Evil Queens, of Sheriffs and Mayors, of the people around them, fell to the wayside. Emma's lips were like salty silk, soft but insistent against her own. Regina's eyes fluttered shut without her conscious command and a small whimper escaped her throat. As quickly as it had begun, Emma released her and stumbled backwards, her mouth open and eyes wide with shock.

"Oh my God."

Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, Regina couldn't help but grin.

"Regina will do, Dear."

Then she darted her hand out and grabbed a fistful of blue jersey. She pulled Emma close again and brought their lips crashing back together. Emma's mouth fell open at the first brush of her tongue and Regina was immediately met with the taste of cinnamon gum and Emma Swan. Delicious. This time she broke their kiss, when oxygen became a pressing issue, and stepped back. She nodded at Marco, who was staring at them with a wide open mouth, and started back to the pitcher's mound.

Granny, who had apparently recovered and taken her place on first base let out a cackling laugh and Ruby, halfway to the dugout herself, threw up a fist in victory,

"Way to knock it out of the park, Madame Mayor!"

Regina lifted her fingers to her lips and felt a blush tingle in her cheeks. So this was what momentary insanity felt like. She caught sight of Snow and felt her grin grow. The Blue Team's catcher, and eternal thorn in her side, had her catcher's mask off and there were tears running down her cheeks. Tears of sadness, of horror, of outrage, Regina was not sure, but found that it didn't matter.

"Compose yourself, Snow." She felt an eyebrow raise, "After all." She kept her voice even, almost flat, "There is no crying in baseball."

She didn't bother to look or listen for the other brunette's reaction, she turned back into the dugout to the cheers and playful faux jeers of her team.

Emma finished the inning, but was only semi-aware of the game. Nobody scored a run, but that was about all Emma was aware of. She had kissed Regina Freaking Mills. With her lips. Holy shit. She had been kissed by Regina Freaking Mills. With her tongue. Emma stumbled back to the dugout and was incredibly glad that it was the ninth inning. She was met by absolute silence from her team. Her mother was staring at her with huge betrayed Bambi-eyes and her father was slack-jawed. Only Nova smiled at her, and that was because the nun-fairy-whatever was halfway into a forbidden romance herself. The Blue Fairy glared at her but said nothing. Emma met her glare and raised her chin.

Say something, Bitch.

The Blue Fairy didn't flinch, but she didn't open her mouth either. Emma would take her victories where she could.

"You're up, Dopey."

He nodded wordlessly and started out to the field.

"Snow. Grab a bat."

Emma tugged her cap down and watched Regina wind up, pitch and Dopey's wild swing. Once, twice, three times, the dwarf was out and Regina seemed to have caught her second, or third or whatever, wind. Emma brushed her fingers over her lips and smiled. She would very much like to think that she had a little something to do with that.

Astrid smiled at her again as she stepped out, bat in her dainty hands as Dopey slumped back into the dugout. She paused, her grin just as big as it had ever been. "Um Emma." The fairy blushed daintily, "You've got a little." She waved a hand in front of her own mouth and Emma swiped a finger across her lips. They came back smudged red. Regina's red lipstick had rubbed off on her. She swiped the back of her hands across her mouth to get rid of the evidence, but didn't know why she did so. The whole town, including Henry, had seen them kissing like horny teenagers.

Shit.

She turned her attention, as fractured as it was, back to the game. Though Emma hoped her mother hit the ball, she was not surprised when Snow struck out too. She made absolutely no comment when Snow stomped back into the dugout and made a bee-line for David's arms. Saying anything at this point would only cause more trouble. If Snow ever gained back her powers of speech, she was in for one hell of a lecture and possibly screaming and crying hysterics. It kind of hand in hand with the whole long-lost-daughter kissing her mortal enemy thing.

Astrid, like Dopey and Snow, struck out, but seemed completely unphased by it. She practically skipped back to the dugout and grabbed her glove. Emma couldn't help but grin when the ridiculously cheerful brunette grabbed Grumpy's hands and dragged him out of the dugout. Even Grumpy, bearded and well, grumpy, as he was couldn't help but smile.

Ah, young love.

Emma grinned. A few more minutes and she could go find Regina and have a nice long talk of their own.

She stepped out on the field and jogged over to the mound. The mound that she had kissed Regina on. Emma smirked at the unintentional double entendre. Softball could be so freaking dirty sometimes. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Ruby stepped out to the plate and Emma grinned. It was time to finish this game. Ruby's eyes flickered gold for a moment and Emma winced. The usually kind waitress was still a little bit pissed.

Emma shrugged it off. She hadn't meant to do it, and she would apologize profusely later. Emma rolled her shoulders and psyched herself up. She was going to send the wolf back to the Red dugout with her tail between her legs.

She snapped off the pitch, confident and ready to see Ruby's face fall when Marco called the strike.

As soon as Ruby's red and black bat hit the ball, Emma knew it was gone. Long fucking gone. Their outfielders ran, but it cleared the fence with plenty of room to spare.

Home Freaking Run.

Ruby jogged around the bases and howled as she did it. The red shirted crowd screamed their approval and the Red Team cheered from the dugout. Both loathed blondes, Jill and Kathryn, met Ruby with a big hug and Regina had a mile-wide smile on her face.

Stupid Home Run Hitting Werewolf. Getting all of the Regina smiles that should be hers.

Paul Bunyan, Emma was never going to get over every story from her childhood being an actual person, stepped up to the plate. His face was as red as his uniform and his lumber jack arms moved slower now, heavy with fatigue. Emma struck him out without missing a pitch, but he wasn't the one she was interested in anyway.

Regina walked up to the plate and Emma knew that this was the game. They were, thanks to Ruby, tied again. Red versus Blue, Emma versus Regina. It was the final countdown, and the big finish. This was the moment. Regina raised her dark brows and pursed her lips, the perfect but for a little smudged color, lips that had been so firmly pressed against her own, and smirked. Regina knew that this was it too.

Emma wound up and her vision narrowed. It was only her and Regina now. No teams, no crowd, just them.

"Strike 1!"

She wound up again and threw so hard that she felt something in her shoulder give a little.

"Strike 2!"

She was going to do it this time. She was going to strike Regina out.

Emma caught the ball Snow tossed to her and hoped she only imagined the glare that was practically burning a hole into her from behind her mother's catcher's mask.

Time slowed down, it felt like she was slaying a dragon all over again. Her movements were charged with power and every muscle tingled with energy. The ball flew from her fingers and Emma didn't need a radar gun to know that this was the fastest, hardest, and most accurate pitch she'd ever hurled.

Regina's swing was just as powerful. Her face was twisted in pain and Emma would swear she could hear her elbows, wrists and shoulder pop when they snapped into the swing. The ball and bat didn't meet with a crack, to Emma's ears it was a boom.

Emma didn't turn to watch the ball fly high and deep. She didn't need to see it to know that it cleared the fence. She didn't need to hear the crowd's cheers or her teammate's groans. She didn't need to glance at the scoreboard to know the score or hear Marco's call of

"That's the game!"

She stood there, glove still on her hand, staring into Regina Mill's triumphant brown eyes and she smiled. Regina smiled back, one of the mile wide smiles that Emma had been craving all night.

Then Regina was engulfed in a massive wave of red. Her team had poured out of the dugout and embraced her like the big damn hero she was.

Emma watched, biting the inside of her cheek, as Jill Hill grabbed Regina in a hug and spun her around. The woman's hands were on Regina's ass, groping her like she had some kind of right. Ruby grabbed Regina and with Whale's help, lifted her into the air. Kathryn, Paul and Archie were practically screaming.

A hand fell on Emma's shoulder and Astrid smiled at her. "We'll get them next year, Captain."

Emma nodded but couldn't help but feel that while the Red and Blue game was over, whatever had happened between her and her son's other mother was going to go into extra innings.


	9. Part IX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual Shenanigans in this section.

Part IX

They had always been excited about winning, but this year her team was quite over the top. She was off of the ground, supported by shoulders and hands. Like some sort of hero. Her, The Evil Queen, hailed like a hero. It was simultaneously one of the most ridiculous and amazing things she had ever experienced. They eventually put her down and after several pats to the back, they went to the middle of the field to shake hands with their opponents. Though must of the handshakes were met with friendly smiles and exchanges of "Good Game." Regina had a slightly different experience than the rest of the team.

The Blue Fairy was cold, Charming was stiff, Snow glared at her with fire in her dark eyes, and then there was Emma. As they were at opposite ends of their teams' lines, they were the last to shake. Regina wanted to deny the small spark of energy that rushed up her arm when their hands met, but couldn't.

"Good game, Regina."

"You too, Emma."

They didn't break their shake, though the shaking had never really started. They were, for lack of better words, holding hands on the field.

There was so much to say, and Regina found herself uncharacteristically tongue-tied.

Emma rubbed a thumb across the back of her hand.

"How's your shoulder?"

Emma's eyes were warm and full of something that closely resembled concern.

"It-"hurt so much that she wouldn't turn away morphine or any other offered opiate. "will be okay."

Emma's mouth twisted and she let out a grunt, "I can tell that you're lying. Super power."

Regina's retort was cut off by a young and sugar-fueled scream of "Moms!"

Henry hit them both like a freight train. The impact of her not-so-little-anymore boy made her shoulder jolt and she hissed in pain despite herself.

"Damn it, Henry, be careful!" Emma pulled him into a hug even as she scolded him. "Your Mom's hurt."

Regina felt a smile steal across her face, hearing Emma call her Henry's Mom chased the pain away. She bent down so she and Henry were eye to eye, "I'm never too hurt to get a victory hug from my son." Henry's arms around her was better than any icepack or drug. Her eyes closed and she wrapped both arms around him despite the pain it caused her.

"Hey Archie!"

Henry let her go and waved her teammate over.

"Can you take a picture for me?"

Regina smiled, their traditional "victory" picture was something she loved almost as much as the actual victory itself.

Henry handed Archie the professional digital camera she had bought him for his last birthday and wrapped his arm around her.

"Wait."

She blinked, confused.

"I know she didn't win, but can Emma be in the picture too?"

Regina, kneeling on the grass now, looked up at Emma. The blonde had stepped back a few paces.

"She's my Mom too."

She turned to look at Henry and found that his face had fallen into a pout that she hadn't seen since he was seven. She looked up at Emma and was somehow not surprised to see an identical pout on her face.

"Of course."

Archie took the picture, Henry squeezed between herself and Emma, faces pressed cheek to cheek to cheek. She felt Emma's arm over Henry's shoulder and felt her smile grow just a little bit wider when the other woman's fingers brushed against the arm that she had stretched across Henry's back.

The flash made her see spots and she heard Emma ask Henry for a copy of the picture.

"Sure, hey Mom, can I go to the Lock-In tonight?"

Her response was automatic, "Of course, Dear." Then the spots cleared and she realized that Henry was looking at Emma. Of course he was, she was the mother he lived with now.

"Oh, I-"She sighed, embarrassed and determined not to feel jealous of her son's relationship with Emma. After everything that had happened she was very lucky he even called her Mom again.

Emma turned her head and their gazes met over Henry's tousled brown hair. Though she had spent months, endless hours, meeting Emma's glares, she had never seen that look in her eyes before. More than that, she had never had such an intense look directed at her. Heat settled in an entirely different part of her body and she found herself licking her lips, hungry for another heart-stopping kiss like the ones they had shared on the pitcher's mound. She wanted her son's birth mother.

All the light and dark Gods damn her, she wanted Emma Swan.

"You heard your Mom, Kid." Emma didn't break their far-too-intimate eye contact, "now get outta here, ya bum!"

Henry hugged them both again and disappeared with a shout.

"What the hell" Emma stood back up with a grunt, "is this lock-in?"

A slender, dirty, hand was held out to help her off of the grass. Regina took it gladly. "The school gymnasium is turned into a large rumpus room for the town's children and the cafeteria is turned into a dance for the high school students. It is a good distraction since most of the adults will be heading to the Rabbit Hole this evening. The Nuns keep everything mostly under control until they all pass out from sugar and adrenaline crashes in their sleeping bags."

Emma smirked, "And the teenagers?"

Their hands lingered again, fingers touching but not quite interlaced. Regina found herself smiling but wasn't sure why. "They eventually sneak out to find contraband alcohol and do whatever it is they do in the backseats of their parents' cars."

Emma chuckled, "And all the adults are partying like they just won the World Series."

Regina smirked, "Something like that."

"So" Emma grinned a very crooked and surprisingly sexy grin, "Will I see you down at the bar?" Emma sounded skeptical, "Cause, here's the thing, I don't think I've ever seen Madame Mayor rubbing elbows with the commoners in a bar."

Regina chuckled because that was her usual rule, but Miner's Day was her annual exception. "I'll have you know that Madame Mayor always buys the first round for both teams on Miner's Day, Sheriff. She wrinkled her nose at the state of her uniform and the scent of sweat and blood that wafted off of her skin. "After a change of clothes, of course."

Emma threw her head back and laughed. The sound made warm sparks shoot up and down her aching spine as she turned to walk back towards the school's locker rooms.

***

The Rabbit Hole was packed to capacity. The beer flowed like a river, the music was loud and the crowd was rowdy. Ruby Lucas loved it. She was still clad in her uniform, every dirt and grass stain was a victorious badge of honor, and had a stein of beer in each hand.

"Good game, Rubes!"

She nodded her head and smiled at Doc, clad in blue to support his brothers, as she passed him.

She navigated the crowded room to the shoved together tables that had been unofficially deemed the Red Team Table. She handed Granny her beer and took a deep drink her own. The cold hoppy taste washed over her tongue like ambrosia. Alcohol was always better when she wasn't footing the bill. She would thank Regina as soon as she arrived. It was funny, though, that the brunette hadn't shown yet. Maybe her shoulder was worse than she had let on. Perhaps she or Kathryn should have hung back and checked on her.

Speaking of Kathryn, she had staked out a seat at their table and was happily chatting with Frederick and Archie. Jack and Jill were playing darts and telling over-the-top stories about their days in the Evil Queen's army. Victor Whale, martini in hand, was trying to smooth-talk his way into a red-clad woman's pants. Some things, curse or not, never changed. Ruby took another drink and grinned. The After Party was always wild, but tonight promised to be an entirely different beast. Fairy Tale Creatures, princesses, knights and everyone else, were about to let loose on the sleepy little town of Storybrooke.

Grumpy, looking like he was about back to his usual level of surliness, drained his tumbler of whiskey. Nova had, like all the fairies, gone to the school to take care of the kids. He sighed and looked at the bar, hoping that his next requested drink would appear in his hand magically.

"Nova" He said gruffly, "texted me from the school. Apparently that Blue Bitch locked herself up in her office over at the convent to reorganize their collection of sacrificial wine."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Blue Team better replace her before next year." She had never trusted the fairy. There was something off about her smell. "Or Regina might not be able to resist fire-balling her."

Grumpy only grunted, "Wouldn't mind seeing that myself."

Up front on the half-assed karaoke stage, a reed thin man was tapping on the microphone trying to get the huge crowd's attention. The radio DJ Ethan "The Pipes" Hamelin, otherwise known as the Pied Piper, finally caught everyone's attention with a shrill whistle that made Ruby's hackles raise. God, she hated that sound.

"All right, thanks for coming out to the Annual Miner's Day After Party at the Rabbit Hole." The gathered red and blue crowd cheered. His mellow voice echoed through the bar at a pleasing and perfect pitch and brought the room back under control. It was going to be a wild and rowdy night. Ruby licked her lips and grinned. The wolf in her was still buzzing from victory and was ready to drink and dance. Hamelin flipped through a couple of cards he had in his hands. "We just got the numbers in from the ticket sales and I am happy to announce that this was the biggest year yet. The Red and Blue Softball Game raised over six thousand dollars in ticket sales alone."

The bar burst into applause and Hamelin continued, "Which of course will be matched dollar for dollar by the captain of the Red Team herself, Regina Mills."

Ruby raised her glass to that, "Hell yeah!"

"Speaking of her Mayor-ness, Regina was also unanimously voted this year's Most Valuable Player." He held up a small gold trophy, "C'mon up here, Madame Mayor. Speech!"

Well nobody could begrudge Regina that. She had played like a pro all night long. Well, except for the tiny little slip with Emma. That hadn't been professional at all. Speaking of Emma, where was she? Ruby looked around and realized that she didn't see or smell either the Sheriff or Mayor anywhere. She only hoped that the crowd, rowdier by the minute, hadn't caught on to that little fact.

"Speech! Speech! Speech!"

Shit, like they hadn't had to listen to enough of Regina Mills' speeches in the last twenty-eight years?

The moment was saved by Kathryn's quick trip to the stage. She smoothed her blonde hair and tugged down her clingy red tank top and grinned at the DJ. She didn't grab the microphone, he handed it with a flair of his wrist.

"Regina sends her apologies, genuine thanks and her checkbook but will not be joining us tonight because she is at home recovering."

There was a roar of laugher at that and Whale answered with a somewhat slurred, "Is that what they call it now?"

Okay, so at least some people had noticed that both teams' pitchers had yet to make an appearance.

The sound of Granny's smack to the back of the good doctor's head was actually loud enough to be heard over the laughter. She loved her sassy grandmother, especially when she was smacking people that weren't her.

"I would also like to take this moment" Kathryn continued, "to remind everyone on the Blue Team that the first round is on Regina and that everyone on the Red Team will be drinking on her tab all night long. Also remember, everyone, that the taxis will be running until four am for free so drink deep because the bar will be donating ten percent of tonight's profits, which will be matched by Alexander Embry." She grinned for a moment, "Thank you, Daddy."

Alexander Embry, otherwise known as King Midas, was clad in solid red and he raised his glass to his daughter, "That's how Regal Red rolls!"

The blue clad citizens let out a groan and the red citizens started chanting along to his statement.

Kathryn handed the microphone back and disappeared into the crowd. The DJ grinned, "Well let's give one big round of applause for all of our players tonight. They showed us the best game Storybrooke has ever seen and helped bring us closer to seeing the schools' new softball stadium, the Graham Humbert Memorial Field, become a reality.

The screams of approval and applause were deafening.

"And before we crank the music up I've been asked to say" He held up a cocktail napkin and squinted at it. "Victor, Michael, Stephen, Marion and Ella, you all owe Ruby money and you can see her at the Red Table to pay up." He laughed, "Folks, I don't even think we want to know what that was about."

Ruby, already getting a little buzz from her third shot of tequila, counted out the money that had been begrudgingly handed over to her. Her victory was cut short as Jill Hill snagged two of the hundred dollar bills out of her fist.

"Hey!"

The blonde threw back a shot of scotch, "I earned that money fair and square, Lucas."

Ruby wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it, Hill."

Kathryn, seated on Fredrick's lap, opened her mouth to ask exactly what was going on, but was interrupted.

"Oh she enjoyed it all right." The speaker had a strong Scottish lilt and Jill immediately blanched as she turned.

"Hey Baby."

The Lieutenant and second in command of the Storybrooke Fired Department crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her riot of red curls over her shoulder, "Don't you Baby me, Jillian."

Ruby grinned from ear to ear, "Oh someone's in trouble with the Missus."

Kathryn, well into her second glass of wine, snickered and made a very convincing whip-crack noise and wrist snap.

"Meri, honey," Gone was the bad ass short stop. Jill was immediately and honestly contrite, and completely wrapped around her fiery girlfriend's little finger. "It was all a part of the plan. Ruby just wanted to give Swan a little nudge in the right direction." The blonde smiled rakishly and held two fingers very close together to indicate exactly how small a nudge had been needed.

The redhead plucked the two hundred dollars out of Jill's hand, "And this little nudge included you feeling up Regina Mills every chance you got?"

Kathryn and Ruby thoroughly enjoyed watching Jill's face turn as red as her uniform, "Maybe?"

Granny, grinning just as much as anyone else, interrupted the impending argument with a raised beer stein, "To Regina and Emma" The rest of the team and assorted friends and family that had gathered around the table raised their own glasses. Archie, a little too deep into his margarita, chuckled, "And I for one have to say, it's about time!"

They clinked glasses and laughed.

Ruby looked over her shoulder and noticed two things. One: Snow was at the bar slamming down tequila shots at an alarming rate and more importantly, Two: Belle had just arrived.

"Excuse me, I'm gonna go check on M.M."

Eugenia "Granny" Lucas watched her over-zealous, but much beloved, granddaughter make a bee-line for the newly arrived librarian. Belle was dressed in a knee length red sundress and sported a huge smile. Granny could not hear their conversation, but could see a matching smile spread across Ruby's features "She's playing with fire. That Belle's going to be nothing but trouble."

Merida, who had taken possession of Jill's lap and her beer, only laughed, "Oh I think Ruby can handle herself and the bookworm."

Granny drained her beer, and watched Ruby plop her red cap on top of Belle's auburn head. She wasn't the only one watching the pair. Mr. Gold, clad in his usual (no red or blue at all) stared at them, his face as hard as stone and his eyes as cold as ice. His hands clenched around the handle of his cane and his jaw tightened.

Nothing, Granny sighed, but trouble. She turned her attention back to the table just in time to see Merida pat Jill's cheek affectionately, earlier transgressions apparently forgotten. "These Miner Day Celebrations have a way of bringing people together. Speaking of, where are the Sheriff and Mayor?"

Paul, with his five-foot-nothing wife at his side, only boomed out a laugh, "The last I saw Regina she was headed towards the showers."

"And Emma?"

Whale chuckled, "Oh I bet I know."

"We are about to crank the music back up." Hamelin crowed, "And this first song goes out to our Mayor and Sheriff who gave us a whole new definition of Law and Order tonight on the field. Wherever you ladies are, we here at the Rabbit Hole salute you!"

Kathryn laughed so hard she almost fell off of Frederick's lap when the first few bars of Katie Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" blasted out of the bar's speakers. The music was almost loud enough to drown out Snow's strangled scream. There wasn't, Granny grinned, enough alcohol in all of Storybrooke to erase the image of her step-mother and daughter kissing passionately from her memory, but damed if Snow White wasn't going to try. Charming was attempting to calm her down. She wished him luck, he was going to need it.

Granny watched, and couldn't help but smile a little bit when Ruby pulled Belle onto the dance floor. She should have really at least checked on Snow, but there was something in the air tonight. Despite the heap of shit that would eventually hit the fan, Eugenia Lucas couldn't stop her heart from giving a little flutter. Ah young love, be it between Savior and Queen, Werewolf and Librarian or Fairy and Dwarf, there was something bright and hopeful about it that nobody could deny. She only hoped they knew what they were doing.

***

Emma wandered through the locker rooms, determined to find Regina. Just to check on her, of course. The way Henry had plowed into her and the look on her face when he had made her think that they should maybe go to the hospital instead of the bar. Not that she would say no to a drink or eight right about now. Regina, though, had her just a little bit worried. Not to mention she wanted a minute alone with the woman before the chaos of the party at the bar. Ruby had warned her that it would get a little wild.

She wandered through the locker room halls and marveled at how everything looked like it came straight out of a cheesy 80s high school movie. She had no idea where she was going, only that the home team's locker room had to be somewhere.

Storybrooke High, home of the Knights. Emma snickered, and once again wondered exactly how much of the curse had been made of out sarcasm and irony and how much was eye of newt or whatever. She heard the sound of running water echo through the hall and figured she had to be close.

She pushed through a set of double doors and grinned because she had finally found the other locker room. Of course it was empty, though. The Red Team was, much like the Blue Team, already gone. Except one. The smart black slack and blazer combo hanging on a hook in one of the lockers told Emma that Madame Mayor was still present and accounted for.

"Regina?"

There was only one place she could be and both the angel (who sounded like Pre-Curse-Break Mary Margaret) and the devil (definitely Ruby) that rode on Emma Swan shoulders told her to go check out the shower room. Because Regina needed help or something. Maybe she had fallen and couldn't get up. Yeah, that was it.

She ducked into the shower room and was rewarded with the image of Regina Mills in a towel. Only a red, what other color would it be, towel. It covered her from her cleavage to her thighs, but left little to the imagination. Screw Victoria and her secrets, Emma had never seen anything as sexy as Regina in a bath towel.

"Hey."

Regina, who had been adjusting the shower's water temperature, jerked her head to the side.

"Miss Swan!"

Though she knew better, Emma moved forward, drawn towards the brunette like a moth to a flame.

"I came to check you out. I mean check on you. Because you're fine. I mean to make sure you're fine."

Damn it! A barely clad Regina apparently made her brain short-circuit.

The other woman, drops of water already misting in her dark hair, only smiled.

"I was just going to take a hot shower to alleviate some of the tension."

She waited a beat, her dark eyes dragging up and down Emma's body, "in my shoulder."

The mention of the injury drew Emma's eyes to it.

"Dear God, Regina."

She reached out and carefully touched the vicious scar that marred otherwise flawless skin.

"How did you keep playing like this?"

Regina drew in a shaky breath and Emma pulled her hand away slowly, afraid she had hurt her even more.

"It isn't as bad as it looks."

Emma didn't need a super power to know that the towel clad woman was lying.

"No." Emma reached out and touched a careful fingertip to the now-uncovered scrape on Regina's cheek, "its worse."

Anger, just as powerful and fresh as it had been during the game, resurfaced in Emma's chest. "I should have done more than just shoved that bitch a couple of times. I should have kicked the unholy shit out of her for doing this to you. I gave her an earful but here's the thing, that fairy fuck is a- something that rhymes with bunt."

Regina blinked, dark eyes clouded with confusion, "You defended me?"

Emma stepped closer, oblivious to the water from the nearby showerhead splattering her clothes, and cupped Regina's cheek again. She was gentler than she had been on the field. She couldn't bare the idea of causing Regina anymore pain.

"Yes. They were being assholes and that fucking Blue Mosquito deserved to have her teeth kicked down her throat."

Her eyes fell to the scars on Regina's shoulder, "And so does whoever did this to you."

Regina chuckled a little, "Miss Swan, these are very old scars and it was a war."

Emma found herself snarling, "And you are a Queen. You were supposed to be safe behind some high-ass castle walls sipping tea and I don't know doing wearing tiaras and doing whatever it is fairy tale queens do. Not on the front lines taking pot-shots. I mean damn it woman, didn't you wear armor or something?"

Had she? What had it looked like, and why did the very idea make Emma's blood burn just a little hotter for the woman.

"My battle garb was more for intimidation than protection, but yes I was on the so-called front lines on several occasions. How else was the Evil Queen supposed to defeat Snow White?"

Emma had a hard time meshing together the idea of the Evil Queen with the barefoot, towel clad woman who was all but in her arms.

"Monopoly?" Emma grinned, "Or Jenga. Oh Poker. I bet you have a kick-ass poker face."

She saw the smile that Regina was fighting to hide. "Miss Swan."

Emma dropped her head and laid a soft kiss on the angry red and swollen scars on Regina's shoulder.

"Call me Emma."

Regina gasped and her hands curled into the sweaty mess of blonde hair that Emma had yet to comb out.

"Emma." Her voice was a soft sigh and Emma smiled against her shoulder. Her hands carefully slid around Regina's towel covered waist and settled on the small of her back.

"When I saw you on the ground, when I heard you scream, I froze. I couldn't move my feet. All I wanted to do was run to you and make sure you were okay. Then your touchy-feely teammates were at your side and you didn't need me."

She stepped closer and didn't give a damn that the nearby shower was splattering her with water.

"I mean I understand Kathryn. She's like, certifiably, the nicest person in the world. In any world. Seriously, I mean you kidnapped her and faked her death and she calls you Gina and invites you over for brunch."

"Emma."

Oh how she hated that. She hated that Kathryn had some sort of friendship monopoly on Regina. She hated that the other blonde was comfortable enough to talk to and touch Regina. She hated the friendly familiarity and the laughter the two of them shared. She especially hated that Kathryn called her Gina. That wasn't her name. It was a common and unrefined name that was better suited to Jersey bimbos. Gina was everything that Regina wasn't. Yet Regina allowed it and that burnt Emma up on the inside.

"But Ruby? I mean I know the woman thinks she's God's gift to men and women, and I guess wolves, but she was all over you. She was practically patting your ass every chance she got!"

"Emma!"

The woman, with her barely-there uniform and cheeky smile had taken every opportunity to touch Regina. Not that Emma could blame her, but still. They were just teammates, not even friends. There was no way Ruby should have been so close so often. It was like she was rubbing up against Regina to do that wolfy-scent-mark-thing, like the other brunette was her territory. Emma wanted to hit the waitress on the nose like a bad puppy. Regina wasn't anyone's, especially not Ruby's, territory.

"And don't even get me started on Jill Hill." Oh she was the worst one, Emma unconsciously pulled Regina closer, all the way into her arms, and they were almost flush. Emma momentarily lost her train of thought because she realized that the only thing separating her from olive-toned perfection was a thin terrycloth towel.

"I-uh." Emma blew out an exasperated breathe. "She was all over you, the whole time. Her eyes, her hands, she practically dry-humped you on the field after your big game-winning homer. Like she had some kind of right. I should have arrested her for lewd and lascivious behavior. How dare she touch you like that?" Both hands had been securely latched to Regina's ass, grabbing and grasping at it like a horny frat boy. "That butch bitch had no right to touch you like that. Nobody does."

The fact that she was holding a mostly naked woman against her while simultaneously declaring that nobody should touch her didn't escape Emma, she just ignored the consequences.

"Miss Swan!"

Emma blinked and found herself, once again, staring into Regina's magnificent midnight dark eyes.

"Yeah?"

Regina's still-red lips quirked into a small smile. Emma would never get tired of those smiles, "Are you quite finished?"

She felt acute embarrassment race to her cheeks, "Yeah."

Regina's fingers untangled themselves from her hair and found purchase on her shoulders.

"Are you jealous? Regina's dark eyes sparked and Emma found herself unable, or unwilling to answer with the completely true 'yes'.

"Should I be?"

It was a deep question. One that maybe, they weren't ready for. Sure, she and Regina hadn't tried to kill each other lately, but that hardly qualified them for- Emma flexed her hands and felt the trembling muscles of Regina's back jump under her touch. It didn't qualify them for whatever it was they were doing. A couple of kisses shouldn't have led to this. Yet, Emma couldn't and wouldn't deny it, here they were.

She felt Regina take a deep breath and pause, as if to compose herself before answering. A lock of dark hair, damp from sweat and the sputtering shower, fell across Regina's face and Emma's hand automatically moved from her hold to push it back. Regina caught her hand and held it in place against her cheek.

"No."

Emma's heart hammered in her chest. They had been toying with each other all night. Hot glances, hotter kisses, but no promises and no thoughts to what would happen next. Emma slid her thumb across Regina's cheek. The steam and mist from the still running shower slid around them, floating in the air, fogging them in, cutting off everything but the two of them. They were alone in a white cloud of heat and Emma wasn't quite sure if was real or fantasy anymore. She also couldn't seem to care.

She didn't know what to say. She wasn't supposed to be jealous. Was Regina saying what Emma thought she was saying? Could the woman who had loved her son so completely actually have room in her heart for another? Could she actually care for Emma? Could the Evil Queen want the Savior in that way? In all the ways she desperately wanted Regina? She had thought it was unrequited, that her messy emotions were hers and hers alone.

"I mean not that I was jealous. Because I'm not. You're Henry's other Mom and the Mayor and I just need to watch out for you. Keep you safe. I mean not that you can't keep yourself safe. You're the most capable woman I've ever met. It's just that they were taking advantage of you when you were hurting and I couldn't stand it. Not when I should have been the one taking care of you- I mean."

"Miss Swan." Regina interrupted her with an insistent tug on her shoulders.

Damn it. She had run her mouth off and now Regina thought she was some kind of obsessive creep show.

Emma watched as Regina's left hand left her shoulder and stopped to rest at the top of her damp towel. With a small flick of her wrists she undid the folded over knot that held the towel up. It fell to the floor and Emma would swear she heard angels sing as every inch of Regina Mills body was suddenly and completely exposed.

"Regina I-"

Clever fingers, attached to graceful hands and long, muscular arms that lead to the most amazing body she'd ever seen, twisted into her hair again.

"Shut up and kiss me."

Regina tugged her forward a step and they were in the spray. The hot water hit Regina first and slicked her hair to her scalp. Water streamed down her face and beaded on her eyelashes and coated her lips.

Emma leaned in, still clothed in her uniform, and kissed Regina under the hot pounding spray. Heaven. Kissing Regina was heaven itself. Salt, spearmint, and an underlying sweetness that Emma couldn't help but associate with apples. Regina's kisses were like lines of cocaine on black velvet, intoxicating, addictive, an incredible high that could so easily turn into decadent and delirious destruction. Emma couldn't get enough.

She could feel Regina's hands tugging at her belt, pulling her now soaked blue jersey out of her pants. Pieces of her uniform were pulled from her body and thrown to the floor to join the soggy pile of red and blue clothe on the bleached white tiles of the shower.

Bare, slick and unbearably hot, she pulled Regina flush against her and let her hands glide across hot, soft and supple skin, mapping it with her fingertips. Water flowed down the two of them, streams splashed off of Regina's body and onto hers. A steady flow of drops fell from her slightly taller head to splash on Regina's upturned face.

God she wanted her. Emma slowly dragged her hands down Regina's shoulders, careful of her inflamed scars, to her chest. Emma had caught herself staring, only once or twice or every chance she got, at the Mayor's bust, but to feel the generous swell of Regina's perfect coral-tipped breasts made Emma's entire body shudder. The fact that her usually restrained Regina arched into her touch and groaned her approval made Emma all the more eager to see this through. She teased her breasts until Regina's nipples were rock hard and wanting before continuing to work her way down.

When she reached Regina's hips she knew what she wanted, what she needed. She laid her hands on either of Regina's thighs and lifted her. She had the right and permission to touch Regina this way. No one else. The woman was, whether she liked it or not, hers now.

Perhaps she had always been. They shared a son, after all. She had been drawn to Regina since the moment they'd met. She felt Regina's legs wrap around her hips and tipped her head back to moan. Regina understood, she accepted, she wanted. Emma walked them to the wall so that Regina's back was against the cold tiles and her front was pressed tightly against Emma.

"Emma."

Her eyes fluttered shut at the sound of Regina's raspy voice calling her name.

There was no turning back now. No one to walk in on them, no one to stop them, no one to judge them or tell them no. There was only the two of them. Not the Evil Queen and the Savior. Not the Mayor and the Sheriff. Not the Blue Team and the Red Team. Regina and Emma.

"God Emma."

When Regina's hot and skillful mouth started to place small kisses on her jaw and neck she hummed in approval and started to snake a hand between their bodies. When Regina jerked against her, hips bucking against her slightest touch, Emma smiled.

The last coherent thought, before giving over to the intensity of the moment and the emotions, before surrendering herself to the sweet heat and seductive majesty that was Regina Mills, swirling in her was that Miners Day was the best fake holiday ever.

Then Emma Swan let herself succumb to the urge that had been pulsing through the both of them all night. The heat, the sport, the pleasure, the intensity and the competition between them swelled up and they both fell against the other, helpless in the swirling heat of their own needs and a love that neither of them were ready to acknowledge yet.

And That's The Game!


End file.
